


Voltron Mini Fics (Prettygoo-d)

by Emybulby



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, BAMF!Hunk, Character Death, Chronic Illness, Depression, Did I Mention Angst?, Drowning, Hurt, Keith angst, Lance Angst, Langst, Mini fics, Multi, Pidge - Freeform, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Tags will change with the new mini fics added, Well... angst!, hunk - Freeform, hunk angst, kangst, klance, mermaid lance, one shots, or - Freeform, pidge ansgt, read the beginning notes for trigger warnings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-08-01 17:55:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16289150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emybulby/pseuds/Emybulby
Summary: 1. I Won’t Leave You (Klangst)2. A Merman’s Last Hope (Klangst)3. Please Answer (Klangst)4. First to Last (Klangst)5. Lance’s Last Call (Langst)6. If You Had Asked (Langst)7. Chronic Illness (Langst)8. In The Old Days (Langst)9. By The Water (Langst)10. Regression (Langst)11. Gone (Langst)12. Dark Thoughts (Langst)13. Monster Mash: Banshee (Langst)14. Protect (Incomplete - BAM!Hunk and Langst)15. Not Enough (Langst)16. Finals (No angst)17. Fallen (Langst)18. Mercy (Langst)





	1. I Won't Leave You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something similar happened to me and I wanted to write about it. There's some fluff in it :)
> 
> Warning: mention of depression and suicidal thoughts.

They were supposed to have a date. A few weeks ago, Pidge had found a way to calculate approximately the time of the Earth year they were at. It happened to be near Christmas and Lance just couldn't let it go. Christmas without his Earth family would normally be pretty depressing, but he was determined to try and make it enjoyable anyway. So, to help, he had asked Keith on a date a few days before Christmas. Keith had looked at him strangely at first, as if he was the half-alien between them. Yeah, they were already together, but that didn't matter to Lance, he really wanted to have this day-date with him. He had planned to make gifts for everybody and listen to the few Christmas songs Pidge had on her playlist. After that, they would have a tasty romantic dinner and cuddle in the lounge and watch a movie. Lance was pretty excited. It was the day he looked up to the most during the team's "holidays".

However, Keith had trained late with the Blade the night before and Lance couldn't bring himself to wake him up the next morning. The others were doing their own free day their way, and Lance was bored.

The thing was Lance was pretty depressed lately. He was also really tired. Some pains and stiffness in his body just didn't want to go away. He needed to have a good time. But Keith was still sleeping.

There was also the fact that Lance didn't want to be bothering the others, including his own boyfriend. He was already lucky to be on their team. But, was it by obligation or because they wanted to? It felt like he was just dragging them down. He never said it though. Just kept on the positive act and did the best he could, even if it never seemed to be enough.

Anyway, he would've liked it if Keith would've put on an alarm or something and be up by now. For Lance, it was an important day and he had woken up early to enjoy it, which was pretty unusual for him. Now, it was passed 1 p.m. and Lance's loneliness was slowly changing into anger. He decided to start doing the gifts to keep is mind off things. It didn't really help. He was alone doing gifts on the only day that really mattered to him. He missed Earth and his family. He wanted to be with them. He always felt loved and needed by his family... But now, he was far away, and they were probably living their life and having a good time without him.

Suddenly, he felt really tired, too tired to continue preparing the gifts. The anger was gone, and now he was sad...

He stood up and went to his room. He layed in his bed and fell asleep a few dobashes later. When he woke up a varga or two later, it was to Keith's apologetic expression.

Lance turned around and told him to go away, but Keith didn't. He gently rubbed Lance's back and told him he was sorry he didn't wake up earlier, he wanted to make it up for it... but it was too late. Lance was already struggling with his emotions. They were dark and he felt like he was drowning. They made him remember the worst. All the times he had been a liability to his team, all the sighs they gave him, all the looks of annoyance, all the problems he involuntarily caused them... He was useless and unworthy of being a paladin. And now, seeing Keith feel guilty made him feel guilty. Did that make sense? Anyway, it made him feel even more like a burden. He sat up then to Keith's surprise. Keith seemed happy about it for a tick, thinking that Lance had finally got over his stubbornness, but then saw the tears in the other boy's eyes.

"Lance? What's going on?" Keith asked, concerned.

"Today was important to me. I really wanted to spend the day with you. Do you care about my feelings at all?" Lance asked.

Keith looked hurt by Lance's words.

"What? Of course I care!" he replied. "Listen, I'm sorry, OK? Let's go make the gifts and all. We still have time to..."

"Why do you love me?" Lance cut him off, not even looking at Keith anymore.

The red paladin seemed taken off guard by the question. Lance appeared emotionless, but tears were still falling down his cheeks.

"You make me happy, you care about me, we make a good team..." Keith started.

"How can you be happy with me? I don't bring anything good to you, or anybody," Lance interrupted him again.

"Don't you dare say that!" Keith said angrily.

"But it's true..."

"No, it's not! I don't know what's going on in your mind right now, but I'm happy with you and you are important to me and the team! I know you've been feeling down lately, but it doesn't change that," keith replied.

"You should leave me... I'm not like I used to be. I'm sad and depressed..." Lance said.

"I'm not leaving you. Ever." Keith replied.

Lance looked at him with desperation in his eyes. Keith was so sure of his words. His eyes were full of certainty. Keith would never leave him... Lance didn't know how to feel about that. It hurt deeply in his chest, because in this moment Keith was the only thing keeping him somewhat grounded, even in space. He wanted to make the awful emotions hurting him stop, but still he couldn't help the relief that these words brought.

Keith brought him close into a hug. Lance hugged him back tightly.

"I want to die," Lance admitted while crying unsightly in the crook of his boyfriend's neck.

Keith felt like he had just been stabbed in the heart.

"I won't let you," Keith told him.

"But it hurts so bad," Lance replied.

"The pain won't last."

"I want it gone..."

"It will, give it some time. I'll help the best I can, I promise," Keith told him, rubbing his back confortingly and rocking them a little.

Keith wasn't good with feelings, but seeing his boyfriend in so much distress and hearing him say these things hurt him too. He had to do something... He had to help him the best way he could. And for now, it was simply to be there and reassure Lance that he would not go away, but that the pain would.

"I love you," Lance told him as his cries were finally dying down a bit.

"I love you too," Keith said.


	2. A Merman's Last Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I started writing a Voltron mermaid AU, but lost the file somehow after having written like 5000 words... :(
> 
> Yeah, so here's a little something instead :)

Lance was hardly standing. He had no strenght left in him. The water surrounding him felt like poison, stagnant and unpure. He was leaning heavily against one side of the glass container he was kept in. His wounds weren't healing and the places where scales had been ripped off - the memories making him shiver - still bled sluggishly, tainting the water in a disgusting rosy color.

He was so tired, and hot, and in pain... He wanted to go back to his friends and family. To still be carelessly swimming in the sea, signing by the rocks, holding hands with Keith... Keith...

A desperate cry escaped his throat, the sound muffled by the muzzle precenting him from singning. If only he could sing, he would've been able to hypnotize them, to fight back, to retrieve his freedom... But they had put this muzzle on him from the start, not even risking taking it off to feed him. They had starved him and hurt him... Now, he was so exhausted and in pain, he felt dizzy and weak. No one would come for him anyway, so what was the point of holding onto life. In a few minutes, they would strap him on the table standing a few feet away from his container, and they would rip away every single beautiful blue scales of his body. He would die suffering at the hands of cruel strangers for money.

Suddenly, someone entered the big barely lit medical room. The person was alone and walked right to him. Lance hardly pushed himself farther into the glass container. That's when the person reached the lit spot where Lance's container was placed. Lance's heart stopped for a second. It couldn't be... He was probably hallucinating. No, definitely.

"Lance... Oh my God, Lance," Keith panicked and horrified. "What have they done to you?"

"Keith..." Lance murmured softly, it was hard to simply talk with the muzzle and he wondered for a tick if his words would even reach Keith. "I'm so sorry..."

Lance was glad that his brain was making him hallucinating Keith in his last moments. At least he could apologize for not coming back home, for leaving him without a word, for dying without having confessed.

"What? Why are you sorry? Wait, I'll get you out of here!" Keith replied.

And now Lance was totally confused. Get him out of here? Wasn't he just an hallucination? Keith was a mermaid too. There was no way he was really here, he didn't have legs.

Keith opened the door on the side of the glass container. The foul water spilled out all at once and Lance was left feeling heavy on the ground. Keith reached him right away and took him into his lap, and removed Lance's muzzle by breaking its mecanism, still careful not to hurt Lance at the same time.

"Here, take this, gift from a Galra ship we sank," Keith said bringing a pill to Lance's mouth.

Lance didn't have the force to question all that was happening, it felt unreal, but too real at the same time. His mind was getting cloudier by the second. He swallowed the pill.

"Shiro and Hunk are outside waiting for us and keeping guard, but we have to hurry. Pidge has hacked into their system, but it won't last for long," keith explained.

"How are you here?" Lance croaked, confused.

"You'll understand soon enough," Keith answered with a small comforting smile.

Suddenly, Lance's tail morphed into long slender legs. He looked at them, completely mesmerized, and moved them. They were so light... and what where those things that look like tiny fingers at the end? They were funny and he could move them too separately!

"Here, put this on," Keith said, handing him a piece of clothe.

Lance tried to put on the shorts he had been given, but ended up needing help from Keith. It didn't take too long, and once it was done, Keith took Lance into a piggie back and exited the room. Lance couldn't stand well on his legs, and they needed to escape quickly.

"Let's blow this place up guys, and go back home," he ordered as he passed by Shiro and Hunk who were keeping watch outside the room. Lance saw them both and smiled at them tiredly.

"Thank you..." Lance murmured into Keith's neck before closing his eyes and letting unconsciousness swallow him.


	3. Please Answer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a short sad Klance mini fic! Enjoy ^.^
> 
> Trigger warning: Suicide

“Is he serious? Telling me that and then ignoring me!” Keith yelled as he got out of his dorm room. 

Shiro got out of his room, curious. “What happened?”

“Lance... I think... I think he confessed to me, but he won’t answer back. It’s been almost 45 minutes now,” Keith complained. 

“What?! Really? Show me your conversation,” Shiro said, surprised.

None of their friends would have guessed that Lance would confess to Keith. He might have had strong feelings for Keith, but they were still unclear sometimes. Keith was interested in Lance, he couldn’t deny it, but Lance still acted like he hated him sometimes. Their friends all knew it was just an act, and they expected him to take longer to figure out his true feelings for Keith. Shiro took Keith’s phone from his hands and read their last conversation. 

>  
> 
> Lance: Keith?
> 
> Keith: Yeah?
> 
> Lance: I need to tell you something... I really liked you and I wish I was good enough for you. I’m sorry... 
> 
> Lance: I loved you
> 
> Keith : If you’re making fun of me, please stop.
> 
> Keith: Lance? 
> 
> Keith: Why?
> 
> Keith: Why did you tell me this over text? 
> 
> Keith: Lance, I swear, if you don’t answer you’ll regret it
> 
> Keith: Lance, please, answer! We need to talk.
> 
> Keith: Lance, I like you too, Ok?... Now, answer your fucking phone!
> 
> Keith: Dammit, Lance! Stop ignoring me!  This isn’t funny anymore!

 

Shiro looked serious then as he dialed a number Keith couldn’t see. 

“If you’re calling Lance, it’s no use, I tried like 8 times,” Keith said. 

Shiro’s stern look was unnerving.

The person he had called picked up. “Hunk, are you with Lance?” Shiro asked. “He isn’t answering his phone. Could you check up on him please?”

Keith couldn’t hear their conversation, but Shiro’s expression changed suddenly to one of despair. He didn’t say anything as he slowly took the phone away from his ear. It looked like he had difficulty breathing now. 

“What...” Keith started, concerned, before sounds on the other side of the phone reached his ears. 

There was panicked yelling and pleading and... Keith understood right away. He sprinted out of their dorm and to Lance and Hunk’s dorm. It was a 15-minute run, but he made it in 10 minutes. When he got there, an ambulance had just arrived. Paramedics ran to the door. Hunk was just exiting it with... With Lance’s bloodied limp body in his arms. Hunk was crying fat tears, pleading the paramedics to save his best friend’s life. 

“He’s not breathing! Please do something! Please!” Hunk screamed, voice breaking with the emotion. 

Keith fell to the ground. His senses became numb. He felt disconnected from reality, his mind filled with Lance’s smile, laugh, voice, their last messages... and his lifeless body in Hunk’s arms. When he got back to reality, Shiro was standing a bit in front of him. Keith was sitting on a bench in the hospital’s ER waiting room. There was a nurse before them. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there. 

What got him out of his numbness was the nurse’s words. 

He would never be able to forget them. 

“I’m sorry, we did the best we could...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS AND COMMENTS (I love reading your comments, they give me life!)


	4. First to Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear followers! Here’s a klangsty fic! It’s a count down from 10 to 0 :)
> 
> The story is also an earth au where there was no Voltron and Shiro never disappeared in space.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Trigger Warning: Bullying, homophobia, death...

##  **10**

When Lance first met Keith, it was at the Garrison. He saw him in a fight. He didn’t know who he was and why he was fighting, but he was good at it.

Lance learned soon after that he wasn’t only good at fighting. He was also the best student in his year’s fighter pilot’s class. He was what Lance aimed for.

Every time he saw him, he would feel angry, and Lance would complain to Hunk about Keith’s stupid mullet or how he probably thought he was too good to socialize with any of the students here, because otherwise why would he be such a loner.

But that was all his way to deny what he truly felt for the other boy. It was jealousy, but also admiration, and maybe a bit of interest and curiosity.

No matter how much he insulted and criticized Keith, Lance couldn’t keep his mind off of him.

 

##  **9**

The first time Lance talked to Keith, he made a fool of himself.

It was awful. He had always talked with many people, being the social kid he was. But with Keith, it was as if his mind had went blank. Ok, not completely, he just introduced himself as his rival and all that bullshit with a shitty attitude. Good job, Lance. Now, try to befriend with him.

Fortunately, Keith and Lance continued talking to each other.

Well… Talking was a big word. They mostly insulted each other. But at least it was better than nothing, right?

In fact, it really was. And as time passed, their relationship evolved. They still teased the other, but it was more and more friendly.

They became closer.

 

##  **8**

The first time they teamed up in the flying simulator, it was a wreck.

It was a special occasion. Hunk had had to leave after the first try because his stomach was too upset. Keith, being at the top of the class, had been chosen to replace Hunk. Of course, Keith and Lance didn’t get along so well during this exercise. Keith was trying to play pilot while it was supposed to be Lance’s role! So annoying… Anyway, they crashed and their awful behaviour was pointed out by Iverson who forced the two of them to do after-class simulator exercises together until they got along.

At least Pidge wasn’t included in this, because they would have never heard the end of it if she had been. The little gremlin could be really vengeful sometimes, and it was truly scary.

Anyway, it worked out in the end when they got too tired to continue arguing and Keith calmly gave him a few tips instead of trying to do Lance’s job in his place. Lance followed his advice and found out that they really helped. When they finally succeeded one of the exercise, he thanked Keith with a big smile.

Keith returned the same smile.

Weirdly, the sight made his insides tickle.

 

##  **7**

When Lance realized he had feelings for Keith, it was when Jenny finally agreed to date him.

He had strangely felt nothing. No profound happiness, no butterflies, no love…

Why? He had been flirting with her for a while before… before he started to train daily with Keith. The thought of the other teenager made his heart flutter. That’s how he also realized he was screwed.

After refusing Jenny’s offer, he quickly walked away to find Hunk. He found him in the kitchen, obviously.

“Hunk! I need to talk to you right now! It’s urgent!” He yelled, dragging his friend out of the kitchen to a quieter place.

“Woah, buddy, calm down. What’s going on?” Hunk asked, concerned.

“This is bad Hunk! This is really bad!” Lance started, moving in circles in front of his friend.

“Ok, I can’t help you if you’re not explaining anything to me,” Hunk told him.

“Hunk… I think I might’ve feelings for Keith,” Lance admitted then.

“What? I don’t understand… Why is it a bad thing?” Hunk asked, confused.

“I can’t have feelings for  _Keith_ , Hunk! I’m a ladies’ man! And Keith is my rival,” Lance replied.

“You can love both girls and boys, you know. It’s not a bad thing if you fell for him either, you two have been getting along better lately, and I know he never left you indifferent,” Hunk told him as if it was all so simple.

“But… But feeling  _this way_? It’s just… It’s just so confusing!” Lance replied with an exasperated sigh.

“Hey, it’s ok buddy, you’ll come to terms with it when the time comes. Don’t force it,” Hunk reassured him. “Now, I have cookies in the oven and I don’t want them to burn, so I gotta get back to the kitchen. Everything will be just fine, buddy,” he added before leaving to take care of his cooking.

 

##  **6**

The first time Lance was bullied, he had been cornered by a group of older students. Some douchebags who wanted to beat up someone for a reason that didn’t concern them, for his sexuality.

A member of their group had heard him talk with Hunk a few weeks earlier. Sometimes, difference made people react wickedly like that, just because it gave them a reason to explain their horrible actions. Lance couldn’t understand why some people just had to be violent and dominant with others. Why did they feel the need to hurt others? It was sick.

They pushed him to the wall, hit him from all sides, and he felt helpless, unable to defend himself. And then, before they could do any real damage, Keith came out of nowhere and jumped on the leader of the gang.

“Leave him alone!” Keith screamed as he hit and kicked all the students around him like a wild animal.

Honestly, Lance was impressed. He didn’t expect Keith to save him, and even less to see him fight all these guys with such agility. It was a sight. Truly.

Damn, this boy was hot.

The bullies didn’t stay stun long and left a few seconds later, overwhelmed by the sudden attack, yelling at Keith that he was crazy and that he wouldn’t get away with this.

When they were finally out of sight, Keith helped Lance to his feet.

“Hey, are you Ok? Why did they beat you?” Keith asked, concerned.

“I’m fine, Mullet… It’s just because I was annoying them,” Lance replied, touching his left cheek tentatively where he had received a clear punch.

He winced at the pain it caused. Yeah, he would have to put some ice on it if he didn’t want it to swell or bruise and mess up his pretty face for a few days.

“Why?” Keith asked, confused, taking Lance back to their conversation. “I mean, yeah, you can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but it’s not like you to annoy older students for no reason,” Keith explained, trying to lighten the mood by teasing Lance a bit.

“Listen, thank you for the help, Samurai, but I really gotta go now,” Lance replied as he took his schoolbag from the ground.

Keith let him go, but what Lance didn’t know at that time was that the other boy made it his duty to protect Lance from being bullied again, no matter the reason.

 

##  **5**

The first time Keith learned about Lance’s feelings, it wasn’t from the Cuban boy himself.

After Keith had chased away the bullies, Lance and him had become their targets. They would shove Lance against the lockers or just say hurtful things when they passed by him in the hallways. But Lance was never there when they got really violent. Keith was though, obviously. Lance didn’t dare say anything at first, he felt guilty. He felt like if Keith hadn’t saved him back then, he wouldn’t have all these bruises and other battle marks.

The guilt made him try to find Keith one evening after class. And when he rounded the corner of the side of the building he finally found him surrounded by his bullies. But they weren’t fighting.

“Oh, you didn’t know? You’ve been protecting him all this time and you didn’t even know this fag had feelings for you,” the leader laughed.

Lance’s stopped there. They had just told Keith his deepest secret, the thing he wished Keith would never know. He wasn’t ready for rejection. He wasn’t ready to lose Keith.

“W-what? Stop messing around!” Keith yelled angrily.

“Hey, speaking of the devil! Lancey Lance, come tell Keith about how you truly feel,” the leader called out to him.

It brought him back to reality right away. He hated this guy.

“D-don’t call me that!” Lance replied, not moving closer.

“Not denying it, uh?” The leader pointed out.

“Shut up,” Lance yelled, his eyes unable to meet Keith’s.

The group laughed. Lance felt ashamed, he couldn’t deny it. Maybe he should have anyway, but at that time he just wasn’t able to do it. He wanted to run away, but he still couldn’t leave them alone with Keith.

“Disgusting, right?” The leader said turning to face Keith.

In a movement so fast no one could even react, Keith was on him, beating the crap out of him. The others quickly tried to get Keith to stop, but Lance ran to them too, trying to help Keith. It worked out in the end. They were pretty beat up too, but the others were in worst shape. The bullies finally left, screaming insults at them.

Lance and Keith walked back to their dorms after that, both completely silent.

Lance was walking in front of Keith, feeling ashamed and hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally before he went his way.

 

##  **4**

The first time Keith asked Lance out, it was during lunch in front of all their friends.

Well, he didn’t really ask. It was more like a decisive request, but it made Lance’s heart skip a beat.

“Go out with me,” Keith said out of nowhere, looking Lance in the eyes with determination.

There was silence for a long moment. Lance’s brain hardly processed the words as a big flush spread on his cheeks at the realization of what had just happened.

“Hum, yeah, sure?” Lance stuttered.

Then, there was a fit of laugher and congrats from all their friends. Keith was bright red now, just becoming aware of what he had just done.

Yet, it made them both incredibly happy.

 

##  **3**

The first time they kissed, it was magical.

It was on their second date, under the rain as they were trying to run to get to cover. Lance had tripped and almost fell, but Keith caught him in his arms just in time. They were so close and laughing. When their laughter died down they looked lovingly in each other’s eyes.

Then, in a clumsy movement, their lips met and their eyes closed. Their hearts sped up as they both savoured this moment, feeling every drop of water on their skin, their intoxicating closeness and the softness of the other’s lips.

Then, lightning lit the sky, bringing them back to reality. They started running again as thunder resounded loudly around them. Keith was holding Lance’s hand, and the Cuban boy felt like it was the best moment of his life.

 

##  **2**

When Lance and Keith first made their relationship public, it wasn’t accepted by everyone.

They had to ignore the strange stares, the unwanted comments, the mean words… But they were happy anyway, and nothing felt better than when they were together.

However, Keith got into more fight, being his usual hotheaded self. He was also easily provoked, and ill-intentioned people took advantage of that. Lance wasn’t around when Keith got into fights. He hated that. If Keith was to get in trouble, he wanted to stand by his side and have his back.

Things finally seemed to die down a bit after a few weeks. Lance thought it would just get better from then on.

But, one night, Keith called him.

“Hey, Samourai!” Lance answered joyfully.

“Lance! Where are you now?” Keith asked, sounding weirdly distressed.

Lance felt instantly uneasy. Keith wasn’t one to show such emotions often, and when he did it meant it was really serious.

“I’m on my way back to the dorms. Why? What’s going on? Did you fight again? Are you hurt?” Lance asked, worry growing in his stomach.

“No, listen, we need to… We have to go somewhere else for a while,” Keith replied.

“Woah, wait, we can’t do that Keith. Now, explain to me what happened. We’ll find a solution together,” Lance said.

“I might’ve angered them too much, I don’t know, but I think they are planning something and it might be really bad,” Keith explained.

“How bad? Are you talking about the bullies?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, them, and bad like… like life-threatening level,” Keith replied.

Lance’s heart dropped in fear at this moment. “Where are you now? Did you call the cops?” He asked Keith.

“I didn’t, because I wasn’t sure what to do. I just got back to the dorms. What about you? Why aren’t you here?” Keith asked back.

“I was in the next town, you already knew that. I had to buy something for Hunk’s birthday,” Lance replied. “Anyway, I’ll be…”

Lance didn’t get to finish his sentence. A van stopped abruptly a bit in front of him.

“Lance?” Keith asked.

His instincts kicked in immediately, Lance turned around ready to sprint away from the people exiting the van. He wasn’t fast enough. Too soon, he was tackled to the ground, his face hit the pavement and it left him stunned and hurting for a few seconds. His phone had skidded a few feet away from him. He cried out to Keith in fear as arms were lifting him and he was forcefully dragged to the van and shoved into it.

 

##  **1**

It was the first time Lance truly feared for his life, and he had all the reasons to be terrified. When his back hit the floor of the van and the door closed in front of him, he knew it would be bad. Really  _really_ bad.

Before he could do anything, someone was hitting him hard, like he had never been hit before. The bullies were only trying to scare him, trying to play with him… But the punches of these masked people were meant to hurt, they were meant to be dangerous.

He was scared and hurting. He cried out in pain when one of them decided to kick him in the ribs until they cracked. He lost consciousness soon after under the rain of hits.

He woke up later when they dropped him out of the van. He fell on his side and felt an acute pain in his chest right away. He gasped and writhed in pain for a long moment before he was finally able to somewhat sustain it a bit.

He tried to open his eyes to look around, but his left eyelids seemed covered by half-dried blood and was too swollen to open up. At least, his other eye was ok, but he found only darkness around him. They had left him at an unknown place in the middle of the night. He started to panic as a wave of pain hit him again, bringing his attention back to his hurting body. He was pretty sure his ribs were broken and he probably had many bruises all over him.

He tried to stand up, but a sudden sensation of dizziness brought him back down to the ground.

He cried loudly in fear and pain. He wanted to be at the dorms, to be with Keith, cuddled up in one of their bed, reassuring the other that everything would be alright.

This only thought revived his motivation. He needed to find help. So, he looked around again. This time, he could make out a forest surrounding him and a trail leading some way. He knew the way his assailants had left. He just had to stand up and follow it.

He had to do it for his friends and family. He had talked about Keith so much to his mother. He wanted to introduce him to them. He missed his family. He would see them again in only a few weeks. If he could just get help somewhere…

Pain flared up in his chest at the movement. His breathing was shallow, it felt like he didn’t get enough air.

Maybe he had a punctured lung? He was in real trouble if that was the case. He needed help. And he needed it now.

“H-help! Please, somebody!” He tried, but his voice didn’t reach the loudness he wished for.

Only silence answered him. He started walking, but it took him so much effort. He was tired and suffering. He almost wanted to fall back into unconsciousness. To stop feeling anything.

But he wanted to survive even more.

His boyfriend was probably going out of his mind with worry. Lance really couldn’t give up. He couldn’t leave Keith alone. He knew of his abandonment issues. He knew it would hurt him too much.

So, Lance walked.

One step at a time.

Walking as fast as he could.

But, after a few long minutes, his body finally collapsed.

He really wasn’t getting enough oxygen. He was breathing fast and his head felt so heavy. A cough shook his body, making it all hurt even more, and a metallic taste filled his mouth.

Oh, it was blood.

And Lance knew then that it was the end, no matter how much he wanted to see his family and friends again and no matter how much he wanted to have a long happy life with Keith, he would not make it back. Sometimes, what you want isn’t necessarily what you get, right?

He wished he could’ve at least told Keith that he loved him one last time.

Lance let a few sorrowful tears fall down his cheeks before he finally let the darkness swallow him.

 

##  **0**

The last time Keith talked to Lance was the worst day of his life.

He heard the phone fall, Lance cry out to him in fear and the sound of tires screeching on the ground. He knew then that he had warned Lance too late. That he had lost him.

He called the cops right after. His fingers were shaking, his mind was running wild with the horrors that the love of his life could be experiencing while he was completely helpless and his heart was beating so fast with fear that it almost hurt. Once the cops were on their way, Keith called Shiro. He needed his big brother’s support.

Shiro and the cops arrived at the same time to the dorms. Keith explained to them what he knew. A search party was organized with the Garrison students and teachers right after.

Keith was terrified. Shiro tried to be there and help him the best he could, but this whole situation was not looking good at all.

Some time in the middle of the night, a cop walked up to Keith.

“We just got word that a young man fitting the description you provided was found heavily injured in the woods earlier. He was brought to the hospital…”

Keith couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation and barely registered Shiro leading him to his car. Shiro drove them to the hospital where Lance had been brought to. The nurses and doctors couldn’t tell them anything since they weren’t family members, but the sad look in their eyes said it all.

Lance’s family arrived a few hours later. He couldn’t quite recall talking to them or introducing himself. Shiro probably did all that in his place.

Lance’s mother hugged him, that he remembered well because it was really warm. He had felt so safe in the embrace.

And then they heard the bad news and the full story.

His body was found on a trail in the middle of the woods by the police. He had head wounds, many bruises and cuts, probably due to repetitive hits, and broken ribs that had punctured his left lung. Lance had died because of that after he had visibly tried to get help by walking out of the woods. If he had been left in a more populated area or if he had had his phone on him, he might’ve survived, but that hadn’t been the case.

Keith never recovered and was never able to open his heart again to anyone. He went around, still picking fights with homophobic assholes. Still beating up these monsters filled with baseless hate. He knew it wasn’t the best way to defend his cause, but it seemed to hurt less when he felt like he was avenging his lover’s death. One day, maybe, it would get better. Probably once they finally found and condemned the culprits. But, until then, it felt like a part of him had been painfully ripped away from him.

Keith had lost the love of his life, because he had dared loving him openly.

He hoped for a better future for people like Lance and him.

Who only wanted to be able to love without fear.


	5. Lance's Last Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klangsty mini fic!! (can be seen as platonic or not)
> 
> Trigger Warning: blood, death...

Lance took his space cellphone with a shaky hand, composing Keith’s number and bringing it to his ear.

It rang one time, two time… Click.

“Hey, Mullet…” Lance said.

“Lance, I told you not to call unless…” Keith started before hearing Lance’s wet coughs on the other side of the phone. “Lance, what’s going on? Are you alright?”

Lance was slumped against one of the walls of the Galra ship they had infiltrated. Things had took a turn for the worst when they had been unexpectedly found out. Lance had gotten separated from the group. He had fought the best he could, using the three weapons he had thanks to his bayard. But even with his effort, he had suffered injuries. Serious ones at that. Especially the painful one on his stomach. This one… This one would kill him. His helmet had been ripped off him and now he couldn’t even move to get it back. At least he had defeated all the soldiers in this area, so he had some truly needed peace for now. But, he didn’t want to die alone.

“Keith… Tell the team I’m sorry. I won’t be able *cough* to make it back…” he told him.

Keith’s heart faltered at these words. No… No!

“Lance, where are you?” he asked, panicked.

“Quiznack, it hurts…” Lance whined.

“Lance! Please, stay with me! Where are the others?” Keith asked, already running to a pod.

He passed by Kolivan who asked him where he was going, but Keith ignored him. All that mattered now was Lance. He had to save him.

“There’s… There’s something I have to tell you,” Lance started, sounding weaker and weaker.

Lance looked down at the puddle of blood pooling underneath him. He didn’t have much time left now. He was trembling and his body felt so cold now.

“I remember… I remember our bonding moment,” Lance admitted.

“Yeah, I figured! Keep talking to me, Lance” Keith encouraged him as his pod took off to the castle’s coordinates.

“I wanted you to know before… y'know. And, hum… I think you rock the mullet,” Lance breathed with a almost happy tone.

Keith would have used this against him in other circonstances, but now Lance’s words just made this situation even more unnerving.

He cared deeply about Lance, even if sometimes it didn’t really show. Lance was his right hand, his support, his…

“We made a good team…” Lance breathed.

Lance’s vision blurred and his muscles failed him. Why did he call Keith of all people in the end? Was it really just to say all that? Maybe. Maybe he had more to say to him. He didn’t know anymore. But he was glad that Keith was the last person he talked to.

Keith heard the phone fall to the ground. He couldn’t hear Lance’s ragged breathing on the other side.

“Lance? Lance! No!” Keith screamed, pushing the trusters past their limit.

He was still so far away. There was no way he would make it. He let the desperate tears fall down, replaying the last conversation he had had with the Cuban boy in his head.

—

When Keith finally reached the Castle, everyone was there to welcome him… except Lance. They all had sorrowful expressions.

“No…” was the first thing that got out of Keith’s mouth as he saw them.

Shiro was the one to step up. Keith looked at him with hopeful eyes, wishing for words he knew he wouldn’t hear.

“We did all we could, Keith. But… he’s gone,” Shiro told him.

Keith ran past the others to the infirmary. He found Lance's body there. It was covered with a white sheet. His trembling hands hovered over it, before he finally pulled the upper part down, just so he could see Lance’s face. It was so pale and lifeless. Keith remembered the other boy’s smile and laugh and his jokes and his boisterous personality… This wasn’t Lance anymore. Lance was really gone. A wail escapes his lips has his knees buckled under his weight.

After a few long dobashes, arms were around him, his family surrounding him and sharing his pain. It felt good not to be alone… But without Lance it wasn’t the same.

It would never be the same.


	6. If You Had Asked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a little langsty shot I wrote because I’m going through difficult times and I needed to exteriorize it in some way…
> 
> Trigger Warning: Mention of suicide, self-harm and depression.

It started building up when he was younger. He couldn’t remember well. Was it because it was hard to make friends at first? Because he was too intense, so he was rejected? Well, that never stopped him. He kept trying to live past that, stay the happy carefree person he was.

Then he hit his teen years and enrolled into the Garrison. For him, it was the perfect moment to start again. He was first met with another rejection. Yeah, he got into the Garrison, but it was not in the fighter class like he wanted, it was in the Cargo class. Still, always the positive person he was, he didn’t give up. He worked hard, had good marks and met Hunk who was the first true friend he had ever had. Keith was his rival, the top of the fighter pilot apprentices, and Lance wanted to become better than him. He was motivated and, strangely, thought that being at the top of his class would make up for the rejection he continued to accumulate in his heart. Lance had tried many things to get rid of that growing hurtful feeling, flirting was a way. Never worked, but he still tried. Yeah, he was pretty stubborn.

Anyway, the only way he was able to finally enter the fighter pilot class was because Keith was expelled, thanks to his hotheaded attitude of his. Lance tried to act as if it was a victory, but it wasn’t. It just proved to him that he wasn’t worthy of the place, and Iverson made it clear to him many times.

The first one to truly accept Lance was Blue. No need to hide it, Hunk was Lance’s best bud, but they were friends because Hunk was certainly to good to reject anyone. Anyway, Lance had been happy about it, like super happy. He thought that maybe he had found his way in life… but that wasn’t the case. Soon after, he met Allura and Coran, and discovered how great his team was. That’s when he started having deprecating thoughts.

He kept on telling himself Blue wouldn’t have chosen him if he wasn’t important. He tried to convince himself that he brought something to the team. He kept on the positive flirtatious act. But with the homesickness and the battles, Lance realized that maybe he was just a seventh wheel. The realization came when they rescued Slav.

After their big battle with Zarkon, Shiro disappeared… Keith was chosen as Black’s new pilot… and Blue rejected him. That hit Lance hard. He showed only Allura how it had hurt him. They never talked about it after. When Red chose him, Lance thought that it was maybe for the best. Allura turned out to be a way better pilot than him. Lance was the replaceable one. He tried to tell Keith. His concerns were not understood. He felt alone.

He never showed it. He put on his usual mask. Annoying the others with his negativity wouldn’t help. He decided to try and embrace his new role. It worked well for a while.

But then Shiro came back, and Keith left. Lance would never say it, but he felt responsible. Maybe his concerns had in fact reached Keith and that’s how the other teen had reacted to them, by leaving so Lance would keep his spot as Red’s pilot. But that was a mistake. Lance wasn’t Shiro’s right hand, he was Keith’s.

He started to be tired of the rejection, of not feeling like his role as a paladin of Voltron was secured. He wanted to feel needed, to feel worthy of fighting by his friends’ side. But the more he looked at it and the more he remembered of past events, the more he realized that he wasn’t really needed.

That’s when he started to really not be able to handle it anymore. The rejection and the feeling of worthlessness became too much to keep hidden. It started to hurt inside his chest. His heart was breaking.

During practice, Lance involuntarily hurt himself. But… he somewhat happened to like the pain. For a moment, it made him think about something else than the painful emotions in his chest. He kept it to himself.

When the pain in his chest became too much, he would transfer it into physical self-harm. No one noticed, it made him feel better at first. But then, after a while, it didn’t work as efficiently anymore. He kept going, cutting deeper, burning longer, punching and kicking stronger… It was not enough. He couldn’t even put on his mask anymore.

Then, Keith came back. The half-Galra missed his space family too much and was done with the Blade. Lance was scared. He had came to care a lot more about Keith than expected, but his return wasn’t good news for him. Lance didn’t want to drag down the team anymore.

On a mission on foot on a planet, Lance was teamed up with Keith. The half-Glara and him didn’t have much time to chat before, so Keith decided to take the opportunity to do so then. But it was too late, Lance was too far deep in his dark thoughts, he was determined to put an end to his suffering.

“What’s going on with you? You’re acting weird,” Keith said.

“Oh don’t act like you care, ” Lance said.

Keith, who was walking a bit in front, turned around with concern in his eyes. Lance never thought Keith would ever look at him this way, like that was impossible. But there he was.

“Lance, I…” Keith started.

That’s when Lance saw the opportunity he was waiting for. He saw the enemy, he could’ve warned him in time. He could’ve put up his shield and get in front of his teammate. But he just pushed Keith to the side and let the blast of the gun hit him right in the chest. Everything went dark. It was the end and he was happy with it.

He had decided to go this way a couple of weeks ago, when his first suicidal thoughts had made their way in his head. Leaving like this would put less of a burden on the others. They would be able to get through it easier. He didn’t want to drag them down even after his death. He just wanted the pain to be gone…

But then his mind kinda came back to life. He woke up to the stars and a confortably hot temperature. He could hear the waves and there was something familiar about the stars… He was home?

“Hey,” Keith greeted him, sitting just by his side.

Lance sat up instantly, confused. He… He was supposed to be dead. Was it the afterlife? Then, why was Keith there too?

“Coran was able to transfer your mind into the ship, as you wished…” Keith explained before Lance could talk.

“Oh, that’s nice?” Lance said, uncertain.

He regretted having wished that. He simply wanted to go.

“I’m sorry, Lance. If only I could’ve helped you sooner… If only I had done something…”

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked.

“Coran saw the scars. He didn’t know what they were, so he showed them to me. You were hurting and… and we didn’t even realize it.”

Keith was now full on crying and Lance thought it would hurt, but it didn’t. His mind was here, but his heart was not anymore.

“It’s OK buddy. I’m good now. You can go on without me,” Lance told him.

“No, we can’t! We loved you Lance! You were an important part of our team! You were important to me…” Keith wailed.

He calmed down after a few ticks.

“Sorry… I… I never thought I was that important to you. I guess I just had all these dark emotions building up and never saw the things from another point of view.” Lance said. “But… Hum… It’s a little too late for that now. You’ll move on, you know. You’re such a good team, so… Beat Zarkon’s butt for me, will ya?”

“That’s the plan…” Keith said.

“Do the others know?” Lance asked.

“Not yet.”

“Don’t tell them, please,” Lance said. “I don’t want them to know.”

Keith didn’t answer. They stayed in silence for a while. Keith still crying softly.

“Don’t blame yourself. It was my choice…” Lance said.

“But it affected us! Do you know that Pidge hasn’t been able to sleep properly since you died? Do you know that Hunk doesn’t even eat anymore? Shiro overworks himself to keep his mind busy so he doesn’t think about your death too much. Allura and Coran… And me? We lost a family member again, someone close to us… I lost someone I would have give my life for… We would have helped you, we would’ve done everything for you to feel better! If only…”

Lance stayed silent this time. He really thought he wasn’t needed. He never thought the others would react this way to his death.

“We can’t do anything anymore…” Keith said in a small voice. “It hurts, you know. It hurts more than anything.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Lance said.

“But you did… We will never recover. We might be able to keep on living, but the pain will never go away,” Keith told him.

Even if Lance couldn’t feel emotions like before, it was hard to hear all those things, to see Keith being so honest and open about his feelings. It came in contradiction with everything he believed he knew about himself and about the other boy. What he thought was true actually wasn’t. His own mind had tricked itself into thinking that he wasn’t needed, that he was replaceable, that the others would be better off without him. And now, seeing Keith cry and hearing him say all those things… He might have been wrong.

But, he had tried to reach out for help, no? Maybe… Maybe he should’ve tried harder? He couldn’t remember well why he hadn’t. Maybe it was easier to think about it now since he didn’t have all these negative emotions hurting his chest and corrupting his mind anymore.

There was no going back anyway.

“I won’t tell the others. Not now at least. Do you still want to go?” Keith asked. “Your mind… We can let it go if that’s still what you want.”

Lance stayed silent for a few dobashes, surprised by Keith’s question. He never thought the other teen would give him the choice.

“Do you really want me to stay?” Lance asked.

“Yes,” Keith replied without even a moment of hesitation.

“Then I’ll stay,” Lance answered with a small smile.

Keith looked at him with watery purple eyes.

“If only you had asked that before…” the half-Galra said with a sorrowful smile.

They both turned their gaze away, back to the false stary sky above them.

Peace would come to the both of them in time…


	7. Chronic Illness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Langsty mini fic about fibromyalgia... 
> 
> I wrote this because I was diagnosed with this chronic illness and I needed to write something positive about all the changes that comes with a diagnosis like this :)

At first, there was pain.

It was everywhere, but mostly in his arms and legs. It felt like muscle ache after a hard workout. He thought it was normal since they were training every day and surpassing their limits. That’s what was needed as paladins of Voltron, and he took pride in his role and in his accomplishments.

So, he continued to push through the growing pain.

Then it was the fatigue. He started to become more and more tired. It was dragging him down. It was killing his good mood and motivation. He lacked energy, but the strangest thing was that he had so much difficulty to fall asleep when he needed to. He had terrible insomnia and deep exhaustion. At some point, he told Shiro and Allura that he needed a few days off to recover from whatever state or illness he had. That’s when he noticed that the pain was not from training, contrarily to what he thought. It wasn’t going away.

Now he had headaches and nausea. It was getting worse and worse, so he talked to Coran and the Altean man ran some tests. There was nothing. He was in perfect health.

So he became really depressed, seeing the others being able to do things he couldn’t seem to do anymore.

“Lance? Are you listenning?” Shiro asked. “You have to focus.”

“I-I’m trying, Shiro, it’s just…” Lance started, but couldn’t finish.

He couldn’t do this anymore. His brain wasn’t working right, his muscles were in constant pain, he wasn’t sleeping enough, he had these terribles migraines every single day… Coran had said that he was really healthy. He couldn’t handle the idea that he was imaniging things. He couldn’t live like this…

“…ance! Breathe with me Lance!” he heard Shiro say.

Shiro’s hands were on his shoulders and he tried to focus on the Black Paladin, but he found he couldn’t. His vision was unfocused, and he couldn’t get air in his lungs. He was panicking. Was he on the ground?

“Come on, inhale… exhale…” Shiro told him as an example.

Lance hardly followed him, but after a few long dobashes, his head cleared up and he could breathe again. He was crying now. Lance looked at his leader with desperation in his eyes. What was happening to him?

Shiro hugged him then to give him the support he surely needed in that moment. He backed away as soon as he heard the young boy cry out.

Lance couldn’t hide the pain anymore. Every touch was hurting him. He was glad when Shiro pulled back.

“That’s not normal… Coran?” Shiro asked.

“According to the scans, Number 3 is in perfect health. Maybe he has a human illness that my scanners didn’t picked up. But there are no visible physical differences from when you all first arrived to the Castle, if only general exhaustion,” Coran answered, visibly confused.

“Maybe he has a chronic illness?” Pidge said.

“A chronic illness?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, it’s an illness that’s persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects, or that comes with time. It can be hard to diagnose sometimes,” Pidge explained.

“Oh, yeah, my mom’s friend had one of those! I think she had chronic fatigue and something else…” Hunk said.

“What can we do to help him or diagnose him?” Allura asked, concerned.

“Probably go back to Earth… I don’t have anything on human health in my database,” Pidge answered.

So that’s what they did. They wormholed close to Kerberos, and got to Earth into Pidge’s Lion with her cloacking activated.

There, Lance took the opportunity to see his family. He didn’t feel in super shape, but he enjoyed seeing them again. In the following limited days they had on Earth, he met with a few doctors under one of his brother’s name. It turned out that after a bunch of examinations he was diagnosed with, as Pidge had guessed, a chronic illness called fibromyalgia.

Pain and all the other symptoms would never go away completely. Only a healthy lifestyle exempt of stress, and pills would help, if it did, because there was also a possibility that it wouldn’t do much anyway.

It hit him hard. He had to give up being a paladin. He had to accept the fact that there was nothing he could do like he used to, that his dreams had to change…

But at least he would live, at least he was home.

And so, he said goodbye to his space family.

He couldn’t fight with them anymore, it hurt him, but knowing what illness took a hold of his body helped him look toward the future anyway.

It wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning of another adventure for him.

Maybe he would never be the same again, but he would work to be happy and positive again, to be the goofball he was deep down in his heart.


	8. In the Old Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old Keith and Lance fic!! (the end is sad though...)

They were sitting on a bench by the water. It was a beautiful day, and on days like this they did that. It was peaceful and relaxing. Their old bodies couldn’t handle much anymore, so they simply enjoyed the life around them. There were children running around, people training, birds chirping… It was nice.

“You know what, I hate this,” Keith said grumpily.

“Always the downer, aren’t you, Mullet,” Lance complained.

“Shut up, Lance. We used to be fighting and all! We were heroes! Now we’re what? Freaking bird feeders!” he shouted angrily.

The poor man didn’t have the same sharp hearing anymore.

“Bird feeder…” Lance repeated, laughing loudly.

Keith gave him a glare.

“I’m serious, Lance! We were such a good team with the others. We were destroying those useless sentries and kicking Zarkon’s ass” Keith said, his voice changing from angry to dreamy.

“Yeah, we were pretty awesome. My grandchildren think I’m not totally sane anymore when I tell them… Yeah, it was the best time of our lives,” Lance agreed. “But you know, at least I’m not an annoying grumpy old man like you. I’m just old,” Lance teased him.

“I’m not grumpy,” Keith complained loudly.

“Yes, you are. Like you’ve always been,” Lance teased him.

“Whatever…”

Lance looked at the water, letting his thoughts wander and the vague memories from his past resurface for a small moment. The war and the making of an era of peace throughout the universe had taken many years of their lives, but it had been a great adventure. Around their thristies, the Paladins were finally allowed to go back to Earth, but they never stayed long, always going on missions and stuff with their cloaked Lions always by their sides.

Lance felt his chest squeeze a little. Yeah, maybe Keith was right, it was sad that they were now in the last miles of their lives. Still, they had lived to the fullest and helped so many people across the universe, they regretted nothing.

Once on Earth, Lance had found love and had children. And Keith had continued working with the Blade and trying to find more about his parents and their story. He had found out everything at some point, but Lance couldn’t recall the entire story, his memories being a bit clouded sometimes, especially for things that didn’t concern him directly.

Lance’s chest squeezed again, this time stronger and… painfully.

“K-Keith…” he started with a hand twisting his shirt near his heart, where the pain seemed to originate.

“Lance? Lance, what… Someone! Help!” Keith screamed realizing that Lance was probably in trouble.

They were old, dying at this age was to be expected, but still Keith didn’t want Lance to leave him… Lance fell to the ground and Keith went beside him, taking one of his hands as he was screaming for help.

Strangers appeared in Lance’s vision. They were blurry, but he could still make out Keith’s terribly wrinkled face close to him. He should really have taken Lance’s advise regarding face masks and skin hydration. His eyes never left Keith’s as his world was fading away.

In his dying moments, Lance saw his family; young Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Coran, Shiro, Matt and Keith; some of their allies; other friends they had made along the way; his wife and his children, and their children too… They were all smiling and laughing in his memories, that’s the way he had always wanted to remember them. Some were still kicking strong, others had left them already…

Now it was Lance’s turn to go. He had lived well. He was happy, he was in peace with his life ending now.

Sadly, Keith would have to be a bird feeder alone for a while.

Lance smiled at Keith one last time before letting go of his hand… and of life…


	9. By the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Langsty mini fic :)

It was a dream.

The sun above him, the waves crashing on the shore, the kids laughing…

He could almost feel the heat of the summer days, smell the characteristic scent of sunscreen in the air, hear his mama call his name… It was all a dream. A wondeful dream.

He was there standing near the water, the waves almost reaching his toes sometimes. His mother called his name again. Lance turned around, she was there a few feet away, a gentle smile on her lips and… Was she crying?

“Mamà? Please don’t cry, mamà. I’m right here, I’m alright!” He tried to reassure her.

“Please, come back to me, niño,” she pleaded.

It confused him. Oh, yeah, it was a dream… Lance turned his gaze back to the sea.

Why did it feel so real?

He didn’t remember going to bed. What was he doing before? Instinctively, Lance started walking towards the sea. The water felt a bit colder than he remembered, but he still relinquished in the calming feeling it brought him.

The caress of the waves against his skin made him shiver. Soon, he was underwater completely. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the weightless sensation.

And suddenly there was pain, so much pain… And he couldn’t breathe, and his chest felt tight. It was spasming painfully. Lance wanted to go back to the shore, to get to the surface and out of the water, but the more he tried to swim up, the deeper he seemed to sink. He was panicking, when suddenly a bigger spasm shook his whole being and he could breathe again.

He gasped in air hungrily.

“Oh my God… He’s breathing!” Hunk cried near him.

Gentle hands turned him to the side just in time before he threw up all his stomach’s content on the ground.

He lifted tired watery eyes to the one helping him. Shiro…

“There… Take it easy, Lance. You’re alright,” Shiro reassured him.

Oh. That’s right he had drowned. They were on an alien planet, helping the inhabitants get rid of an annoying beast in a water source near their village. The beast had disgusting dark skinny tentacles that resembled whips. One had grabbed Lance’s ankle and, before anyone could react, he had been dragged underwater and…

“You dumbass, you scared us!” Pidge cried.

Lance turned back on his back and saw her on the other side near his knees. He smiled at her still feeling a bit too confused to reply anything.

Keith was beside her, near his face, looking all scared. Awww, he cared!

Lance let out a small wet chuckle that sounded almost like a cough and it burned his throat.

“What’s so funny?” Keith asked, already angry.

“Never thought I’d ever say that, but I’m glad I can still see your ugly mullet,” Lance said with a teasing tone, his voice sounding raw.

Keith’s look changed for his usual grumpy, Shiro had his dad expression again, and Hunk and Pidge smiled.

“Shut up, cargo pilot,” Keith muttered.

“Typical,” Pidge said simply.

“There he is,” Hunk added.

Everyone was back to normal. He really cared deeply about his team. He didn’t like seeing them scared and desperate like a few ticks ago. He cheered them up the best he could. If he was really the goofball, then he would give his all to be the best he could be for his team.

While they were talking and laughing and waiting for help to come get them, Lance thought back to his strange dream. He missed Earth.

Lance would go back home someday, but for now he had a war to win. And he had an awesome space family he could count on to do just that.


	10. Regression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is de-aged and the team has to find a remedy before it's too late!

**Part 1**

 

Ok… Lance shouldn’t have been testing strange alien cream without checking up the ingredients with the Castle’s system first, but the seller was just so tempting, saying that it was a true miracle cream that could make your skin look 15 years younger… Well it sure did.

“Shiro! Shiro!” a young child screamed, running around wearing only a big shirt.

Lance felt overly scared. It was almost instinctive. His body was small and… and… He cursed feeling tears form in his eyes. What was happening? He had to find Shiro, there was something else to this cream. Something even more terrifying. It also progressively affected his mind. He felt urgency as his mind was regressing. He could almost watch his memories go away one by one.

Lance stopped running when he couldn’t remember who he was trying to find. Maybe Pidge or Hunk? Wait, who were these people… Lance started crying loudly, realizing that he was surrounded by monsters. He was lost in a place full of scary monsters. Where was his mamá?

“Hey, kiddo,” a big friendly teenager said, getting to Lance’s level and putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “What’s going on? Can I…”

The man stopped talking when Lance looked up at him.

“Oh God… Lance?” the teenager asked.

The young boy noded. “Do you know where my mama is?” He asked with a tiny scared voice.

 

**Part 2**

 

“I’m scared,” young Lance said with a tiny voice, leaning on Hunk’s shoulder to hide his face in the big teenager’s neck, being too frightened by the aliens surrouding them. 

“It’s Ok, Kiddo. The monsters won’t hurt you, I promise. And if they even try, I’m gonna protect you,” Hunk replied confidently, even if he was super anxious right now. 

Lance was about 3 or 4 years old in appearance. He didn’t remember anything, as if his mind had come back the same as a child of this age as well. This was really  _really_ bad. 

That’s when Hunk noticed Shiro and Allura not far away. He practically ran to them. 

“Oh my God, Shiro, Allura! We’re in trouble,” Hunk said as he reached them. 

They turned to him and Hunk’s saw the confusion and curiosity in their eyes as he approached them with a small kid in his arms that looked human. 

“Hunk… What’s going on?” Shiro asked hesitantly. 

“It’s Lance,” Hunk started. 

“Why do you have a kid in your arms?” Allura asked. “Is he lost? He looks…”

 “No, listen, it’s Lance,” Hunk tried again. 

“What’s with Lance?” Shiro asked, becoming more and more worried at Hunk’s panic. 

“It’s him, the kid, it’s Lance,” Hunk explained. “Look at him, it’s totally him!”

Shiro and Allura looked shocked before examining the young child who snuggled closer to Hunk, feeling visibly more in security with the Yellow Paladin. He clearly didn’t remember Allura and Shiro, but the both of them could also recognize Lance’s appearance in the young child. After Lance had examined the two strangers a bit, he relaxed against Hunk’s shoulder.

“Beautiful,” Lance said then with a cute small voice, pointing at Allura. 

Now, this was the real proof! Allura smiled and introduced herself. Shiro did the same afterwards. 

“Now, say you know what to do, Allura,” Hunk asked anxiously. 

“Actually, I really don’t. The best would probably be to go back to the Castle and ask Coran. He knows more about health and biology matters than me,” she replied. 

Hunk hoped from the bottom of his heart that there was something they could do. What if they couldn’t get Lance back to his normal age? What if he stayed this way? What if he continued becoming younger?

 

**Part 3**

 

“Everything looks good on the scanners. Our little boy is in perfect health for his age,” Coran said cheerfully. 

“We’re happy to hear that, Coran, but what we want to know is how to get him back to normal,” Shiro said. 

“Oh, that… Well, it seems there’s nothing much we can do until we find out how he ended up in this situation,” the Altean man admitted, taking out a candy from a hidden compartment and giving it to the little boy waiting impatiently for the promised gift. 

“But he doesn’t remember,” Pidge pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s an issue,” Coran said, thoughtfull. 

“What do we do now?” Hunk asked. “Do we go around the whole market asking people if they know what happened?” Hunk said. 

“There’s nothing else we can do, really,” Coran said.  

“Let’s not waste time then,” Shiro decided. 

“I’ll probably be of more help if I join you on the research,” Coran said.

“Who’ll be on babysitting duty then?” Pidge asked. 

Everyone’s gaze turned to Lance. The cute boy was happily licking his space lollipop. The young boy was endearing already, but no one wanted to stay behind and bear the responsibility of looking after a young child.

 

**Part 4**

 

“This is just too funny! I can’t believe that he was bad lucky enough to draw the short straw 5 times in a row,” Pidge said, still laughing as the team exited the Castle and made their way to the market. 

“I must say, it is an impressive feat,” Allura admitted, giggling a bit. 

“But really, is this a good idea? I feel like it’s a really bad idea. I mean, not that I don’t trust Keith or anything, but leaving him with a young kid might be a little dangerous, no?” Hunk confided.

“I’m sure they will be just fine. Number 4 has good instincts,” Coran said cheerfully.

“Yeah, everything will be fine. Let’s concentrate on our own task and get this taken care of quickly,” Shiro said.

The group all separated and started their search to get Lance back to normal.

 

-

 

“I swear to God Lance, if you don’t stop running now…” Keith said threateningly as he ran around the medical bay, tripping into things. Goddam bad luck! They had played 5 times, and had lost every single one!

The little boy he was babysitting ran around laughing loudly and screaming, amused by the chase and Keith’s visible struggle. As soon as Lance was done with his space lollipop, he had started running around, and Keith had difficulty stopping him. No more space sugar for Lance, ever.

He had never taken care of another person before, especially a kid. He clearly wasn’t qualified. He didn’t even remember all of Coran’s instructions. He didn’t want to mess this up, and Lance didn’t make it easy, on the contrary. He was running close to table corners, and grabbed at anything that looked interesting, particularly dangerous tools lying around. That’s what happens when you live with a bunch of messy teenagers that live into space and fight a war. At least, Keith had been able to recover every dangerous tool Lance had gotten his hands on.

“Keef the monster!” Lance said then, stopping his run to turn around and point an accusatory finger at the half-Galra.

This little pause in Lance’s running was enough for Keith to catch him. He lifted Lance off the ground and looked at the boy in his arms, not sure what to do anymore as the small child was still laughing.

Keith found himself smiling.

“Caught ya,” he said simply.

“Keef! High, high!” Lance demanded then, moving his hands towards the ceiling.

Keith didn’t know what that meant, but decided to follow the movements the young boy was making with his arms. Lance was now over Keith’s head, an even bigger smile on his lips.

“Fly!” Lance said cheerfully, expanding his arms widely.

Keith realized something then. Lance had certainly always wanted to fly. That’s why, even if he was never at the top of the class at the Garrison, or never had really good gades, he still never gave up becoming a pilot, whether it was a cargo pilot or a fighter pilot.

So against his usual attitude and reactions, Keith made as if Lance was flying.

Lance smiled and laughed even more, and so did Keith.

 

**Part 5**

 

Hi dear readers! I didn’t expect to do so many parts to this story, but oh well… Anyway, if you want more or have any ideas about what will happen next, don’t hesitate to comment or send me an ask!

* * *

“Now, we have to put the icing,” Hunk instructed to the small boy who was making a cake for the team.

Hunk brought the bowl containing the icing near Lance and was about to delicately and precisely put the icing on the cake, when Lance put his two whole hands into the icing, took a big amount of it and just dropped it on top of the cake. He placed it messily and turned to Hunk with a big proud smile.

“Done!” The boy announced cheerfully. “It’s gonna be sooooo good!”

Hunk laughed a little, even if he couldn’t help but judge the amount of icing on top of the cake.

“Yeah, sure, buddy.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t find anything!” Keith’s angry voice sounded as the rest of the team was talking in the dining room near there.

Hunk couldn’t hear much, but Keith was really upset. This was weird, Hunk never thought Keith cared so much about Lance. Or maybe it wasn’t about Lance, but more about the fact that they couldn’t leave the planet and continue fighting the Galra Empire if Lance remained in this state.

“Is Keef angry because of me?” Lance asked suddenly, his smile gone.

Hunk turned to look at the young boy beside him, surprised by his questions and his sudden seriousness.

“No, kiddo. Why would he be?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t know… Papá is always angry at me too,” Lance admitted, starting to lick the icing on his fingers.

It hit Hunk then that Lance had never talked much about his father. He loved his family and could go days just describing them. He cared about them a lot, Hunk knew that, but his father… Hunk didn’t even know his name. Had he… Could he have been mean to Lance or hurt him?

“Keith isn’t angry at you, I’m sure of it. Now, come, Buddy Boy, let’s wash your hands,” he told the young boy as he took him in his arms and put him just at the right level for him to wash his hands in the sink. 

Just when they finished, the rest of the team arrived in the kitchen. As soon as Lance spotted Keith, he ran to him.

“Keef! Fly, fly!” Lance demanded with a big smile.

Keith surprisingly smiled back and took the boy in his hands.

“Alright, there you go, Little Pilot,” Keith said as he brought Lance over his head.

Everyone looked at them, taken aback by the Red Paladin’s sudden change in attitude. Keith and Lance were smiling at each other, Lance’s arms wide as if he was a plane.

After a few seconds, Keith dropped Lance back down to the ground. Lance seemed a bit disappointed, but Keith took the little boy’s hand, and it seemed to appease him a bit. Children were like that sometimes. Lance had chosen his favorite person in the team. Hunk was a bit jealous honestly, but at least it would be easier to get away from babysitting him. He liked Lance, really, but being responsible of a child’s safety was a bit too stressful for him. What if he hid in some place Hunk couldn’t reach? Children were scary sometimes, always running to dangerous places and touching every single thing that caught their eyes, not caring if it was safe or not…

No Hunk was good entertaining the little boy for short periods of time, but babysitting was too much to ask of him. He was glad Keith had picked the short straw. 5 times… 

“Well, everybody, let’s eat something and go back to our research, alright? We need to nourish our bodies so our minds stay sharp,” Coran suggested.

“I’m coming with you this time,” Keith said.

“Alright, I’ll babysit Lance then,” Shiro agreed.

There was a silent acknowledgement amongst the team. 

Keith dropped to Lance’s level and took him in his arms. “You hungry, Little Pilot?” Keith asked, leaving for the dinning room.

“Keith making Lance ‘fly’? He will hate me when this is all done. Endless teasing for the rest of his life,” Pidge laughed.

“Pidge…” Shiro said in his dad tone.

“Never thought I’d see then get along so well in my life,” Allura said.

“Keith cares more than he seems,” Shiro said, following the duo to the dinning room.

The rest of the team followed, helping Hunk bring food, plates and ustensils to the table.

-

“Why is your arm like that?” Lance asked, playing with the mechanical limb, curious. 

Shiro was sitting on the couch, watching over Lance as he played around in the lounge. Lance was a really energetic kid, that was for sure. And now he was really interested in Shiro’s arm.

“So I can be more powerful?” Shiro answered. 

“Sooo cool! What can it do?” Lance asked. 

“It can burn… It glows… It can open things,” Shiro said. 

“Make it glow!” Lance demanded. 

“Okay, but you can’t touch it if it glows. It could be dangerous,” Shiro agreed, putting his arm high enough so Lance wouldn’t be able to touch it even if he tried. 

Shiro activated his arm. Lance looked at it with admiration. 

“I want one like that too when I grow up!” Lance decided. 

“I don’t think…” Shiro started, as the boy settled against Shiro’s side, still looking at his babysitter. 

“You have white hair like an old man,” Lance commented. 

Shiro smiled at that. 

“Are you like a super hero?”Lance asked. 

“I… A bit, yes. The others and I, we save people and fight bad guys,” Shiro explained. 

“Keef too?” Lance asked. 

“Yes, Keith too… You like him a lot, uh?” Shiro asked. 

“He’s cool… And it’s fun with him,” Lance said, rubbing one of his eyes with his hand. 

The little boy was starting to be tired. 

“Where is mamá?” Lance asked then, visibly tired.

“She’s at home, waiting for us to bring you back to her,” the Black Paladin answered with a comforting smile. 

“I miss her and my sisters and my brothers…” Lance said with a big yawn. 

“You’ll see them soon,” Shiro lied. 

Lance’s eyes closed then and he fell asleep soon after. Shiro didn’t feel too good with all this situation. They had to bring Lance back to normal. If they didn’t find a way soon, they would probably have to really bring him back to Earth. It was already unsafe for a child his age to be in the Castle on a shop moon. The longer they stayed, the more dangerous it would get. 

-

The next day, the research were fruitless, again. Where had Lance gone to by his own to have ended up in this situation? There was no lead, no hint, nothing… Pidge was getting really annoyed. She was a master when it came to finding things, but she really had no clue. They still hadn’t search all the market, but at this point they would have normally found something, anything! At least, Lance’s condition was stable, but they still had to bring him back to normal. Something was missing, and she would find it!

-

“No!” Lance yelled, furious.

“Shiro will be with you. You can have fun with him,” Keith told the young boy before him.

“No, I want to play with Keef!” Lance said, tears filling his huge eyes.

That was bad. Keith had no experience refusing a child’s demand. He really wanted to search the market with the others again, like he had been doing for every evening for the past two days. He wanted to participate in getting Lance back to normal, but now a part of him also wanted to stay with Lance.

“Keith, do you mind staying instead of Shiro tonight?” Coran asked.

Keith hesitated.

“Just this time, Little Pilot, ” Keith finally agreed, ruflling Lance’s hair a bit.

The young boy smiled wide. 

It ended up not being “just this time” afterwards, Lance always requesting Keith as his babysitter.

-

The team had been searching for 6 days now, asking every shop owner if they had seen or talked with a young tan boy with blue eyes. No one had seen him and they had visited every shop there was. This was ridiculous, someone must have lied to them.

Still, Keith remained the assigned babysitter for Lance. He didn’t mind. It was fun. It was about 3pm Castle Time, when Lance finally fell asleep for his usual nap. If he didn’t sleep in the afternoon, the team had noticed that Lance could become upset easily. And when he was upset, it was awful. He would cry and scream for no reason.

Keith was also on the verge of falling asleep. They were both on the couch. Keith was lying there, Lance on his torso, and watching one of Pidge’s few movies from Earth that Lance could also watch. It felt so peaceful. Had his life ever felt so calm and full? Over the past days, he had gotten really attached to the young boy. It felt like he had a little brother. Keith had always been longing for family and connections, even if he was always isolating himself, being also scared of rejection. Shiro had accepted him, being a mentor, and then like an older brother. But Kid Lance had chosen him as his favourite person in the universe, he had said so over the past few days. Keith knew that this Lance wasn’t the one he knew before, that he was just a kid who would forget everything almost as soon as he said the words, but it still touched him a lot. He would do anything to protect Lance. Keith’s eyes dropped then, and he fell deeply asleep.

-

It had been a few hours, searching every corner of the market again and again. They were starting to feel hopeless. Maybe, they would have to think of the next steps to take. They couldn’t remain on the moon shop for too long. Their allowed time was reaching its limit. If they stayed longer, then they would be in too much danger of attracting unwanted attention, which they might have already have.

“Allura, come in!” She suddenly heard Keith’s voice through the coms on her earings.

His voice was full of concern, and so was Allura’s heart now.

“What is it Keith?” She asked.

Shiro and Coran turned to her, their expressions worried.

“Something’s wrong with Lance,” he told her.

 

**Part 6**

 

“What’s wrong with him? Is he gonna be alright? Please, tell me you have some alien medecine that will heal him right away,” Hunk said, anxious. 

Coran finished his examination and analyzed the data. It was not good. 

“Lance’s immune system has unusual results. I fear it might be cause by his de-aging experience,” Coran explained. “Unfortunately, he has already caught an alien virus. It’s an evolved version of an old virus Alteans found a cure for. We could try healing him with our old medecine.” 

Coran put a hand on Lance’s forehead. The little boy was sleeping on the infirmary bed. He was burning with fever and looked in pain, but the coldness of Coran’s hand seemed to appease him a bit. The poor child…

“Why can’t we put him in a healing pod?” Pidge asked. 

“Healing pods are not recommended for children. It could not work properly and might worsened their health or create further problems regarding their development,” Allura explained. 

“Then try the medicine, Coran. We have to help him!” Keith said, visibly concerned. 

“Already on it, Number 4!” Coran announced as he began to prepare an IV for Lance. 

“Everyone, I fear we might also have to bring Lance back home now. If his immune system has been affected, then it might be safer for him to live on Earth with his family,” Allura explained. 

“What? But… But he’ll stay a child then?” Pidge asked. 

“His health is what matters right now,” Shiro replied, agreeing with the Princess’s suggestion. 

“There is another issue you are all not taking into account,” Coran said then. “Lance’s health data were perfect a few days ago.” 

There was silence for a moment as Coran carefully put the IV’s needle into the little boy’s hand. Lance stired and whined, but fell back asleep after a few ticks, probably too exhausted and out of it to . 

“Lance’s state is degrading…” Pidge realized. 

“Then, what do we do? We have to save him!” Hunk exclaimed. 

“We really have to find out what happened to him then… There’s no other way,” Shiro said. 

“Paladins, we’ll get back to the moon shop, and use whatever means to save him,” Allura decided. 

The team left the room, but Keith lingered a bit. He joined Coran by Lance’s side. He took the young boy’s little hand, and Lance gripped it tight in return. Keith leaned forward a bit, as if to have a better look at him. 

“It’s gonna be alright, Little Pilot. We’re gonna save you, I promise,” Keith whispered. 

This promise was also for him. He had to… He needed to respect this promise. Otherwise, he would lose someone really dear to him. Even if Lance got back to his annoying old self, always fighting with him and trying to encourage him into his stupid rivalry, Keith wouldn’t mind at all. He wanted Lance safe, no matter what.   

“I’ll take good care of him, Keith. You can go now,” Coran told him. 

“Yeah… Thanks Coran,” Keith said, and then he left the room and ran to his Lion. 

He would not fail. 

 

**Part 7**

 

“Do you think I’m joking?!” Keith screamed as he summoned his bayard, pointing it at the shop owner. 

“No! No! I really don’t know anything!” The shop owner replied, fearful and shaking. 

Keith let out an angry yell. There was still nothing. No one had seen Lance or could remember him. Yet, this was ridiculous. Lance must have talked to people or gone to at least one shop. 

“Enough now, Keith,” Shiro said then. 

“Yeah, man, he clearly doesn’t know anything,” Hunk added with a sad expression. 

They had done this at least 20 times now. Every single time, no one could remember seeing Lance. This was strange. Too strange. They left the shop and headed for the rendezvous point. As they walked, something caught Pidge’s attention. She stopped suddenly and turned around to look at their surroundings, as if to confirm her unsaid suspicions. 

“Pidge? Is everything Ok?” Shiro asked. 

“There should be a shop there,” she said then, pointing to the corner of the road. 

It had went unnoticed to them before, but there was clearly enough place for another shop there, but the space was empty. Another weird thing. Maybe… Maybe there had been a shop there. 

“Let’s go have a look,” Shiro decided. 

As they got closer, Allura slowed down to a stop. Everyone stopped too, curious. “No… That can’t be,” she said then, her eyes full of fear. 

“What is it, Princess?” Shiro asked. 

“I feel… Druid magic,” she admitted. 

-

“If it’s a druid’s doing… there’s nothing we can do,” Allura told them with a defeated tone as they were all sitting in the dining room. 

“No…” Pidge said, her voice full of emotion. 

She would lose one of her space brothers. Lance was annoying sometimes, but she liked him. He had his thing, he made people happy and his funny personality brought something more to this team, a home-like feeling. 

“No, we can’t give up!” Keith yelled, angry.

“Keith, you also know of the druids’ abilities. Now that we know they are probably the cause of Lance’s condition, maybe we could try to find something to heal him or stabilize his condition instead, and look for a way to get him back to normal after that,” Shiro offered. 

“I hoped you would find something today so I wouldn’t have to tell you this, but I fear Lance’s condition has worsened past his immune system,” Coran told them then.

All eyes were suddenly on the Altean advisor. 

“What? What do you mean, Coran? Please tell me it’s not as severe as I fear it is,” Hunk panicked. 

Coran sighed and shook his head. It looked hard to say the words, but he finally answered him.

“If we don’t find anything by the end of today, Lance’s health condition might damage his body enough that…. that it might have long-lasting effects or worse,” Coran explained. 

“Or worse?” Hunk gulped.

“Long-lasting? What do you mean Coran? If we get him back to his true age, wouldn’t that get his immune system back to normal?” Pidge asked, confused and worried. 

“That’s what we hoped, but at that time only his immune system was affected. However his condition is worsening fast, and now his organs have also shown signs of degradation. If this goes on, with the Altean virus, against which the medication I gave him doesn’t seem to have an effect, soon Lance will suffer organs failure,” Coran replied. 

There was silence for a long moment. They all knew what that meant. Keith stood up then, not caring about the chair falling loudly to the ground. He walked out of the room and towards the infirmary. They all could see that Keith cared more about Lance now than they ever would have thought would happen in their lifetime. 

“What can we do to help him then? What are our options? There must be something we can do,” Hunk asked.

Silence again. They didn’t expect Lance’s condition to go downhill so fast. And now they were all out of solutions.  

-

Keith arrived in the infirmary and walked to Lance’s bed. The small boy was lying in a ball on his side with a pained expression on his face. He looked tiny and hurt. Keith wanted to make the pain go away, but there was nothing they could do now. Lance… Lance was dying. 

When Keith reached Lance’s bed, the young boy opened his eyes. 

“Keef…” Lance said. 

“Hey there, Little Pilot,” Keith said with a small smile.

He took the now hot towel on his forehead and soaked it in a bowl full of cold water by the side of the bed. He put the towel back on the child’s forehead and Lance seemed to relax at the new coldness. 

“Keef… It hurts,” the boy whined on the verge of crying. 

“I know, but the pain will be gone soon,” Keith told him, his throat tight with emotion. 

It was hard to contain his emotions. Keith didn’t want Lance to die. He wanted him back, happy and goofing around, as usual. He wanted to bicker with him and even participate in their stupid rivalry. How could a simple visit to a moon shop go so wrong? 

“I want my mama…” Lance said then. 

“Sorry, buddy… We can’t bring you back home yet,” Keith replied. 

The small boy started sobbing. Keith stroked his back and side comfortingly. They stayed in silence for a while and Lance finally fell asleep. 

When he was sure the boy was deep asleep, Keith let tears fall down his cheeks silently. 

Keith knew now that he wouldn’t be able to respect his promise. 

 

**Part 8**

 

Coran had given him medication to help releive the pain. It helped a lot it seemed, but it wouldn’t save Lance. The whole team stayed by the young boy’s side and none had left since he had woken up, even Hunk whose stomach was growling louder by the tick. They were all here, talking with him, telling him stories, making him laugh and think of happy things… 

It would’ve been a pretty nice moment if they didn’t all know why they were acting this way.

It might be their last night with Lance. 

Coran had confirmed during the last examination that Lance’s condition was truly going downhill now, and that nothing could save him now, unless it was druid magic, which they didn’t have access to.

“Keef? Fly?” The young boy asked then. 

Keith looked at Lance, surprised. Lance’s eyes were tired, but full of light.

“Little Pilot, I don’t think…” Keith started. 

“Please,” Lance pleaded. 

Keith’s eyes turned to Shiro and Allura who were standing at the end of the bed, and then to Coran. They all didn’t know what was really the best thing to do at this point. Lance was going to die anyway… So Keith made a decision. 

“Would you like to fly in a real battle space ship?” Keith asked with a knowing smile. 

Lance beamed at that. 

-

“Sooo cool!” Lance said with a tired voice. 

He was sitting on Keith’s lap in the pilot chair of the Red Lion. Coran had placed all the needed medical equipment so everything would be fine for him to enjoy the experience to its fullest. 

“We still haven’t left the hangar yet,” Keith laughed.

He could feel Red in his mind. His Lion was concerned and anxious, but also wanted to make Lance happy, like its pilot. So they took off gently and went out in space. 

“Look this is the Castle, where we were all this time,” Keith told him, showing him the big white ship.

Lance had stars in his eyes even if he was obviously too tired to even react much. 

“And there is the moon shop where we spent the last few days,” Keith added, turning to the moon close below. 

“Beautiful…” Lance breathed. 

Keith smiled fondly at the boy who couldn’t seem to look anywhere but at the magical sight in front of him. Keith turned around the moon, showing him a tiny bit of Red’s skills and making sure that Lance had a good view of the immensity and beauty of the universe. 

“Thanks… Keef…” Lance added then, his voice a fading whisper and his eyes closing slowly. 

Keith felt Lance go limp against him.

 

**Part 9**

 

“Coran! Coran!” Keith screamed as he rushed out of his Lion with an unconscious little Lance in his arms. 

Everyone was already in his hangar. He put Lance carefully on the ground in front of the others, took Lance’s tiny hand and lifted desperate eyes to Coran. 

“Please… We have to save him,” he said in a small shacky voice that didn’t ressemble him at all. 

Hunk fell to his knees beside the young dying boy and caressed Lance’s short hair delicately with a trembling hand as tears fell down his cheeks. Pidge joined him, also crying, taking Lance’s other hand. Shiro was the next, getting down on his knees and putting his human hand on Lance’s calf. 

Allura dropped down then, more brusquely than any of them had expected in this difficult moment. All their eyes turned to her then. She looked confused. 

“Do you all feel this?” She asked. 

“Feel what? Sorrow? I think we all do, yeah,” Hunk sobbed. 

“No, not that…” She put a hand on Lance’s calf too, hesitantly. “Hope.” 

They all looked at her, confused too now. But then, they felt it. The powerful energy, the impressive power, the incredibly pure magic… It was suddenly flowing through then. All their eyes were again drawn to Allura who was now glowing a soft white. 

“Allura…” Coran murmured, mesmerized. “You said you fought Haggar and won against her once, right? Then, maybe your powers… Maybe they could save him.” 

Tears were falling from the woman’s eyes. They all felt her strong desire to save Lance. They all shared the same desire. They all wanted Lance back and healthy. They didn’t even care if Lance remained a child. They just wanted him to live. 

So they all directed their wishes towards Lance and Allura. 

The soft light grew brighter, slowly engulfing them completely. They heard Allura scream in determination, and they all screamed with her as they felt the intense flow of magic pass through them. 

After a few long dobashes, the light died down. 

They all looked confused for a moment.

But then their eyes fell on Lance.  

 

**Part 10**

 

“Why do they look like that?” Lance asked, curious. 

“Because that’s how Alfor created them,” Coran answered. 

“But why cats?” Lance inquired again. 

“Those are lions,” Coran corrected.

“Those are not lions… Lions have hair around their faces,” Lance replied. 

“Not all of them do.”   

“And why are they different colours? Is it because lions have different colours on your planet?” Lance asked. 

Coran liked to talk and explain things, he thought he could handle Lance for a while, but now he was reaching his limits. Lance had been asking questions for almost a whole varga straight, and they weren’t all easy to answer. Right now Number 3′s curiosity surpassed Number 5′s, which was quite the feat. 

“Coran?” Shiro asked, interrupting their endless conversation. 

“Yes, Number 1? Is Allura ready?” Coran asked cheerfully. 

Shiro nodded. 

“Shiro!” Lance said as he ran to Shiro and took his hand. 

They started to make their way to the infirmary. Allura had saved Lance’s life. He wasn’t back to his former age, but he was older. He was four when Allura had saved him. They all thought he would remain this way, and they all only cared that he was alive and that what Allura had done had rejuvenated his health, but the Altean princess had told them that she had felt something strange and that she wanted to test something. She had done the same thing the day after, when her energy level was better. Lance was now five based on Coran’s analysis of Lance’s new health data. 

“These spaceships are so cool! You pilot the black one, right? I want to pilot it too when I’m older!” Lance told Shiro. 

Shiro smiled at that. 

Maybe he would…

-

“Get back down here, you jackass!” Keith yelled at a ten-year-old Lance climbing the Castle’s wall like a reckless kid. 

God, Lance was easier to handle as a child. 

“Come and get me!” Lance teased Keith. 

Keith breathed deeply, he had to calm down or he would hurt him. Then, Lance slipped and tried desperately to find somehting to hold on to, but didn’t. Keith’s heart skipped a beat and he ran for the boy. If Lance got hurt, he would be blamed. 

And he also didn’t want Lance to get hurt, no matter how annoying he could be sometimes. 

He dove forward and caught Lance too close to the ground for comfort. They both fell to the ground and looked at each other with concern right after. Then, they laughed. 

“That was close, don’t do that again, Ok?” Keith asked Lance. 

-

“Lance, you little shit! You’re so gonna regret that!” Pidge yelled as she ran after a twelve-year-old Lance screaming in fear.

They passed by Shiro and Allura who looked confused. Lance, seeing the “parents” of the Castle, hid behind them right away. 

“Please, save me,” he pleaded. 

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked Pidge who was hardly containing herself from ignoring Shiro and Allura and going for Lance’s life. 

“This annoying assh…” Pidge started. 

“Pidge, language,” Shiro cut her, with a warning tone.

“He broke my computer!” She complained then. 

Shiro turned disappointed eyes to a cowering Lance. “Did you?” 

“Sorry?” Lance answered. 

“You can’t do that, Lance. You know I have to ground you now?” Shiro told him. 

“But…” he started with a complaining tone.  

Shiro gave him a reprimanding look. Lance didn’t complain anymore and followed Shiro as he dragged him to the common room so they could have a talk and decide on what Lance could do to repay Pidge. 

-

“It’s so weird,” Lance said. 

“Yeah, I know buddy, you’ve been repeating this for the past varga,” Hunk told him as he prepared dinner. 

“It’s like I’m talking to future you… Is future me handsome?” Lance asked. 

“You’re only 3 years younger, there’s not much change honestly. Though, you’re taller,” Hunk said. 

“Am I taller than Keith?” Lance asked. 

“Yeah,” Hunk replied. 

“Awesome!” Lance replied happily. “What’s even weirder is that I have these added memories in my mind, as if I lived two lives,” Lance said. “Like, no matter how much I feel a strong rivalry when thinking about Keith, I still… I still care a lot about him. Like he was a brother… And I feel the same about you all, but with Keith, it’s kinda stronger… I guess… Is that normal?” Lance asked. 

“Yeah, ‘Keef’ was your favourite when you were younger. You were always like ‘Keef, fly!’ and he would pick you up in his arms and all. You two were super cute,“ Hunk laughed. 

Lance became completely red in embarrassement. Damn younger-self…

-

“How is it to be back?” Keith asked Lance as he arrived on the training deck. 

Lance ended the training sequence right away and joined Keith. 

“It feels awesome! And Hunk lied, I’m definitely more handsome than I was at 17 years old,” he added. 

Keith rolled his eyes. Of course, that was so much a Lance-like thing to say. 

“I was just finished with my training, the training deck is all yours now, Keef,” Lance said, teasing him a bit with the last word. 

Keith growled in annoyance, but smiled anyway. 

“But, hum… Thank you, Keith. I remember what you did a bit, and… and I had a great time with you. You’re a great big brother,” Lance added and then left the room right away. 

Lance’s words really made Keith happy. 

He was glad Lance was back.

**~THE END~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS AND COMMENTS (I love reading your comments, they give me life!!) 
> 
> Fanarts for this fic can be found on my Fanfic Master Post on Tumblr (Prettygoo-d)


	11. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a sad deathfic about everyone's reaction to Lance's death. It’s all platonic relationships. Enjoy!

“You have to go back to your team, Keith,” Kolivan announced as he joined Keith in the equipment room.

“What? Why?” Keith asked, surprised by Kolivan’s sudden decision.

“There has been an incident. Your team needs you,” Kolivan said simply and then exited the room.

Keith felt a pang of fear in his chest. What incident could require for him to return?

-

As soon as Kolivan had told him to go back to his team, the Castle had wormholed close to their location and Keith was gone without anymore information.

When he exited the pod he had borrowed from the Blades, no one was waiting for him in the hangar. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit sad at that. But seeing no one made him even more anxious as to what had happened exactly.

He reached the main deck qickly, and when he entered, sad puffy eyes turned to him. The atmosphere was heavy. A sob escaped Allura’s lips and she turned to Coran, who hugged her as he also let a few silent tears fall. Shiro walked up to him and hugged him.

“What’s going on? What happened?” He asked, confused and now really scared. 

He looked to the left and saw Pidge sitting on the ground in a corner of the room, her eyes were dull. Not farfrom there, Hunk was crying rivers holding something to his chest.

Was it Lance’s jacket?

“Where’s Lance?” Keith asked next.

The room fell silent for a moment. So silent it felt like the whole universe had stopped for a few long ticks.

“He fell in battle,” Shiro said then as he stepped back.

“What?” Keith asked, not sure he heard right.

“We were fighting on a Galra ship. I was teamed up with him. We… We stumbled upon Haggar. I blacked out, I don’t know what happened, but when I came to, Lance was… Lance was dead,” Shiro said.

Keith could feel the culpability, the regrets and the anger in his brother’s voice. He could see how much he hated himself for what had happened to Lance. But he couldn’t care less in that moment.

“You… blacked out? YOU BLACKED OUT?! Don’t you dare give me this shit, Shiro! You failed him! You are our leader, you are supposed to ensure we all stay alive, that we make it out of every battle! You failed him, Shiro! You…” Keith was backing away quickly, unable to control his emotions or the words spilling out of his mouth.

Keith had never been particularly fond of Lance. He was loud, annoying, immature and flirty, but… But he was family. He was like a brother to him, like this whole team. They all cared about each other deeply.

Keith exited the room and ran. Tears fell out his eyes. Memories of Lance and him filled his mind, making things even more difficult to process.

Keith remembered him at the Garrison, his loud laugh resounding in the hallways. He remembered Lance introducing himself as he joined him to save Shiro. Then, Lance piloting Blue for the first time, their first mission together, their stupid challenges, their trainings, Lance being there for him when he was chosen by the Black Lion when Shiro disappeared…

Keith’s run slowed down then and he fell on his knees. He cried shamelessly. Living with Lance was fun. If… If he had been there, maybe Lance wouldn’t have died. He was also partly this team’s leader, he should’ve stayed…

Keith sat on the ground and leaned on the wall behind him. He looked at the stars outside, crying. He fell asleep there, thinking of Lance and mourning his death all by himself.

When he woke up, there was warmth surrounding him. The others had joined him. He realised, seeing their still tense and sad expressions, that they all needed everyone’s support in these hard times. When his eyes fell on Shiro, he regretted the hurtful words he had shouted at him.

As he looked over at everyone, his eyes fell on the tablet Pidge was holding. There wasn’t any sound coming out of it, because she was wearing headphones, but he could see it was Lance’s vlog. Tears streamed down his face again.

Keith knew that they would never get over Lance’s death, but they would feel better with time.

He would not let down his team again, he would protect them with all he had.

Keith would do what Lance would’ve done.

He would make sure they all get back home safely this time.


	12. Dark Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This mini fic is me trying to deal with my decreasing mental health…
> 
> TW: Depression, suicidal thoughts

There were these thoughts sometimes in his mind. They would come and go. Sometimes they repeated for weeks, sometimes they were there only once a day.

But they were always there, in the back of his mind, waiting for a moment of weakness…

“I hate myself.”

He would put on his usual mask. Nobody had to deal with his troubled mind but him.

“I hope I’ll hit my head so bad during this mission I’ll fall into a coma…”

It never happened. Lance cursed the universe and the healing pods.

“I should’ve stayed on Earth… I should stay alone…”

Earth? Even Earth wasn’t doing it now. What would he be for his family with his sick mind? A burden? No, he preferred to stay alone…

“I don’t deserve anything good.”

Why could he laugh sometimes? What good did he really do that he deserved that bit of happiness? He was just a dumbass sent on the front lines of an intergalactic war. He wasn’t even a genius soldier. Yes, he had good skills as a shooter, but there were way better fighters in the universe than him… So, why him?

“Why can’t I just be mentally stable?”

Because his mind was messed up maybe… Because he was ungrateful? He had all his limbs, unlike Shiro… He had a family that never left him, unlike Pidge, Keith, Allura and Coran… He had realized his dream of going into space and was even a hero throughout the Universe. So, why was it so hard to just be content with that?

“I can’t live like that.”

His emotions were too overwhelming. It hurt. He wanted it to stop. He wanted the deprecating thoughts to go away. But he had tried so many times to make things right, to feel better. Nothing worked…

“I’ve had enough.”

He knew it wasn’t the best solution, and even far from being a good one, but it would truly make it all stop.

“I wanna die,” he murmured for the hundredth time that day.

“I don’t want you to,” a concerned voice answered him then.

Lance turned to Keith, surprised.

“Why do you feel that way, Lance? What’s going on?” Keith asked.

“Everything’s fine, Mullet, I’m just super tired. I had a bit of insomnia these past days, so, yeah…” Lance dismissed.

“Ok, are you sure?” Keith inquired.

“Yup,” Lance replied.

But then, arms were around him and Lance’s walls crashed down.

“I’m not good with feelings and stuff, but I know you’re a bad liar, Lance,” Keith told him.

Lance hugged Keith back as tears pooled in his eyes.

He sighed deeply at the sudden lightness in his heart and let a few tears fall before letting go.

It didn’t clear his mind completely, but it helped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS AND COMMENTS!! :)


	13. Monster Mash - Banshee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this turned out way sadder than expected. I had planned on a plot twist at the end, but it’s 4am and I need sleep x)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you’ll like this Halloween themed langsty mini fic!!
> 
> Trigger Warnings: death, cancer…

Keith dreaded the familiar feeling of death. He could feel it deep inside his chest, like he was falling and only screaming would relieve him from the awful sensation of pure fear and torment.

It had always been like this, every time he crossed path with someone destined to take his last breath within the week to come. The more intense the feeling, the sooner the person’s death would come.

He had known when his dad was going to die. He had tried to prevent it, but there was no escaping death.

Unlike others, it took weeks until the fateful day arrived. Keith wasn’t with his dad when he died, but he felt it. It was the worst sensation he had ever experienced. Almost like he had been the one losing his life.

That’s when he learned that losing loved ones was the worst, especially with the emotional trauma that followed.

He hated it. He didn’t want to know when people died, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

He was a Banshee.

After his father’s death, he decided he didn’t want to get close to anybody again. He pushed people away, made sure not to befriend anybody, at least until Shiro came around.

Shiro didn’t know that Keith was a Banshee, so he did all he could to reach out to him, no matter what trouble Keith got himself into.

Keith decided to try again. Thinking about it, he didn’t regret it. Shiro finally learned about his abilities and accepted him anyway. 

Keith knew when the Kerberos mission failed that Shiro was still alive, otherwise he would have felt it for sure.

When he became a Paladin of Voltron, it took him a lot of time to finally be able to open up again to others. He still tried to distance himself, joining the Blade of Marmora and all… In the end, he found his mother and they shared memories for two years. She saw the monster he was.

Fortunately, it didn’t change anything between them. During those two years, he decided he would stop pushing his space family away. He missed their presence and their support.

When he came back things got a bit messy with the battle against Lotor and all that happened with Shiro.

And then their “road trip” through space made things difficult. They were all on edge and they came upon some obstacles. When they finally reached Earth, they didn’t even have time for themselves. It was war after all.

He was confident though, because through it all none of his friend seemed to be destined to die fighting to free their home planet.

After the final battle, they were all wounded but alive.

That’s when things finally calmed down for a while. They would often meet in Keith’s hospital room and spend some time together. Keith’s heart felt light and he was glad that everything was going well for him and his space family.

And then one afternoon, as he was laughing with Lance over some dumb stuff while Pidge and Hunk were having a tech debate, it appeared again… The horrible sensation of the looming of death.

He looked at Lance with horror and sadness, hardly swallowing the small scream hitching in his throat. It was coming from him. 

“Is there something on my face or what?” Lance asked, with an uncomfortable laugh.

Keith couldn’t answer.

“Keith, not to make you feel awkward or anything, but, you staring at Lance like that, it's really weird, buddy,” Hunk added with an uneasy tone.

Keith looked around then, wishing his mother or Shiro were there, but they weren’t. Kolivan and Krolia were already gone to find their lost Blade members, and Shiro was somewhere else in the Garrison.

“I… I’m sorry, I don’t feel so good… Can you guys leave?” He asked then, voice tight.

“Are you sure? Is there something we can do to help?” Pidge asked, concerned.

“No… I’ll be fine,” Keith answered with a small smile.

“Ok, Samourai. Take care,” Lance told him and left.

Pidge and Hunk wished him well and left right after as well. He wasn’t alone for long though as Shiro visited him a few dobashes later.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked, worried. “Hunk said you didn’t feel well.”

“Lance… He’s gonna die,” Keith admitted right away, the words hurting him as he spoke them.

“Oh… It’s your Banshee powers again?” Shiro asked.

Keith nodded.

“It’s not super strong, but… It’s there,” he explained.

Shiro had nothing comforting to say. Keith’s powers were a curse.

But Keith made sure it wasn’t this time. He forced the doctors to do all the possible medical tests on Lance. He didn’t say why he wanted him to do them, but he was glad he did.

Lance had cancer. Not terminal and odds were on his side, but Keith knew Lance would still die, no matter how hopeful the doctors were.

Lance was doing well for a while. Keith was really awfully attentive with him. He would stay by his side whenever Lance needed it. He would talk to him like he had never talked with anyone before, not even Shiro. He would do everything to make sure Lance enjoyed his last months as much as possible.

The feeling of impending death in Keith’s chest was growing every day. It hurt. And the more he spent time with Lance the harder it was not to scream.

He really came to care a lot more than expected for Lance. He was their goofball, but also their loyal friend, their sharpshooter and the person who made things lighter when they were all tense. Even when he was the one slowly dying, he found a way to make his friends and family smile.

But one night, as Keith and Lance layed together in Lance’s hospital bed, the Cuban boy spoke to him with an unnerving seriousness.

“You know it already, uh? You’ve known it for a while… I won’t make it,” Lance said with a tired voice.

Keith didn’t answer. His throat too tight to speak. If he tried, he would scream, and if he did, it would mean that the end was near. He wouldn’t scream… He wouldn’t…

“I always wished to go down with a bang… Guess the universe really had unexpected plans for me, uh?” He laughed quietly, but Keith couldn’t join him this time. “Thank you, Keith. I liked fighting in space with you and having you by my side until the end. I wish I hadn’t been so stubborn for so long and really got to know you better from the beginning.”

“Please… Stop…” Keith finally pleaded.

Lance took Keith’s hand weakly. When had his hands become so small and fragile?

“Just so I can die in peace… I remember the bonding moment,” Lance admitted.

Keith let out a sob. He knew… He already knew, but he wasn’t mad at him. He deserved it for not remembering him from their time at the Garrison.

“You’re a great friend and a great team leader, Keith. Everything will be ok,” Lance told him.

“I don’t want you to go,” Keith sobbed.

“I’ll always be by your side, Mullet. I’ll haunt you or something…” Lance replied.

His voice lacked the energy it used to have. Shit, Keith already missed his bright smile and his stupid jokes.

“You better,” Keith told him, voice shaky.

He passed an arm under Lance’s neck and held his frail body close to him until they fell asleep.

Keith woke up screaming his voice raw a few hours later.

Lance was cold and unmoving in his arms.

Death had finally taken him.


	14. Protect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a angsty mini fic centered around Hunk!
> 
> This is incomplete, due to my mom's dog (he just hates me for some reason and made me accidently delete the third part of this fic...), but it might be completed one day! Part 1 can be read as a one shot :)
> 
> Enjoy!

**Part 1**

 

Hunk came to with a terrible headache and nausea. His ears were ringing and everything around him was blurry. He couldn’t remember what had happened. He felt completely lost. Trying to find something to bring him back to reality, he turned his head to the left. It was dark to the left. There was something, a big mass, in front of him now… He blinked a few times, trying to make sense of it. 

Is vision finally cleared of a bit, and the fog that had taken hold of his senses seemed to be lifted at the same time. 

It was Yellow. His Lion was lying on the ground, his mouth opened towards Hunk, and no life coming out of him. 

Hunk remembered then, The crash. Voltron had been hit by some weird weapon, he remember the feeling of agony his Lion had felt, and the rest of the team too. 

Hunk tried to move, but his body was hurting everywhere. He would probably need to spend a few hours in one of the pods after all that… 

A wave of nausea hit him as soon as he was on his hands and knees. He hardly contained it. Honestly, he was pretty proud of his growing capability to control his nausea. That was mostly thanks to Yellow and his usually strong and safe built. Hunk’s obligations as a Paladin of Voltron and his desire to free enslaved species throughout the universe had been a pretty good motivation too.

“Guys?” A weak voice asked over the coms. 

The coms sounded weird. They had probably been damaged in the crash. 

“Pidge? …you?” Another voice, Shiro, answered. “Ar…ou… alright?”

Yeah, definitely broken.

“…blood …kay, ” Pidge answered. 

Hunk could barely hear them. “I’m here too,” he tried, his voice shaky and raw.

No one answered him. He was starting to panic now, so he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, knowing that Pidge and Shiro were possibly alright and that he didn’t seem to have any really concerning wound, at least he hoped he didn’t have one… 

There was no worrying amount of blood around him, so that was a good sign, right? He tried hard to push the thoughts that he might have internal bleeding aside. It felt like it was difficult to breathe now… He was officially panicking now. What if he was really injured and the others didn’t come in time? What of Lance and Keith? And Allura and Coran? 

Hunk’s mind was running wild with all the possible bad endings this situation could have.

Hunk took off his helmet, yearning for air. It helped a bit, but that’s when he heard something near him. Someone… grunting? He lifted his head and saw Keith a few metres ahead. He was standing by another Lion, the Blue Lion, desperately tugging on something.

“Come on!” Hunk heard him cry out in anger.

But then Keith dropped to the ground and started sobbing.

Through his pessimistic thoughts, Hunk remembered Keith’s words when they were in the Weblum’s belly months ago.  _“I gotta be able to count on you.”_

Keith clearly needed his help now. 

But then, Hunk heard movement on the other side of his Lion. This was so disorienting, he felt sick again. 

Galra soldiers came into view. They were walking towards Keith, pointing their weapons on him. Keith turned to face them and Hunk saw Lance on the ground, unconscious and visibly stuck underneath his Lion. Keith had been trying to help him. 

Hunk stood up, but dizziness brought him back to his hands and knees. He saw Keith summon his shield. Blood was dripping from his other arm. He was probably injured and couldn’t use it. 

“This is the end, Red Paladin,” the Galra commander at the head of the group of soldiers demanded. 

Shots were fired then, all hitting Keith’s shield. Hunk tried to stand up again. He knew that, if he didn’t, Keith and Lance would probably be done for. 

Hunk had always been a scaredycat, there was no denying it. In his core, he was a pacifist, he wanted people to simply get along with each other. That’s why he loved cooking, everybody loved food! It was a way to gather people over a common need and love. 

He wasn’t a fighter, but there was no way he would let his friends die before him without doing anything. 

So he stood up and started running, ignoring the pain in his whole body, the dizziness in his head, and the fear in his heart. 

He summoned his bayard, a yell escaped his lips, and then all hell broke loose. His bayard shot at their enemies with a surprising precision, it was almost unreal. There was clearly something deeper to his bayard… He couldn’t be more thankfull that his shots hit so many targets, letting him reach his friends. 

Keith had dropped to the ground in surrender, his shield cracked. It was so out of character of him, but Hunk could understand why Keith had felt hopeless. The blood loss from the wound on his arm probably didn’t help either. Keith was looking at Hunk as if he was some kind of angel. Or maybe more like Mothman… Yeah, Keith would totally be more astonished by Mothman than an angel. 

Hunk put up his shield and stood in front of Keith and Lance. 

“Kill them!” The Galra general screamed in rage. 

“I won’t let you!” Hunk shouted back, his voice strong and decisive. 

He heard movement behind him as he protected his friends behind, his shield holding on strong. It would crack, like Keith’s, but Hunk was not giving up anytime soon. He had too much to protect… He needed to stay strong as long as he could for Keith, Lance and himself. As long as they were alive, there was still hope!

“Lance! Shit! Breathe!” Keith shouted then. 

Hunk’s heart skipped a beat. His best friend… Lance was dying behind him. He would be the first to pass away if a miracle didn’t save them right now. Tears fell from his eyes and he yelled in desperation. 

Just then his bayard changed. It took on a weird form, some kind of yellow gauntlet. And then, they were all surrounded by a translucid dome. It was a shield, but it was way stronger than their usual shield. It would be enough to protect them for a longer period of time at least. Hunk really was greatful that his bayard had chosen this moment to change. The three of them needed it right now. Hunk turned to Keith. 

Keith was pushing against Lance’s chest. The Cuban boy was unmoving, his face too pale, blood pooling underneath him, where he was stuck underneath Blue. 

“Shit! It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have tried to get him out, I…” Keith cried, panicking. 

Hunk walked to Keith then, His shield moving with him, but still covering them completely. 

“Keith, you have to continue giving him CPR,” Hunk told him then, seeing as Keith was slowing down. “I’m sure the others are coming, and we can’t give up on him.” 

“Y-yeah!” Keith agreed, hardly containing his overwhelming emotions. 

Keith breathed air in Lance’s lungs, and then continued pushing against his chest. Hunk dared looking around them. There were more and more Galra soldiers, and no sign of their allies.

Just when hopelessness and panic started creeping in his mind again, Hunk heard a big roar in the distance. 

Shiro.

Then, the Castle pierced through the clouded sky. Shots were fired around them, completely destroying the Galras surrounding Keith, Hunk and Lance. 

The Black Lion arrived from behind the Blue Lion. It dropped on the ground in front of them. Hunk smiled for a small instant, but turned to Keith and Lance right after. Keith was still pushing. 

Hunk knew it had been too long. If Lance came back, he would probably have brain damage, but neither Keith or him were ready to let go. They both needed him, the team needed him… 

Shiro ran to them and Hunk unsummoned his bayard. Shiro realized soon enough how dire the situation was. Through his mental bond with the Black Lion, Shiro asked for its help. The Black Lion lifted the Blue Lion and Keith dragged Lance away instantly. Keith, Hunk and Shiro saw right away that Lance had lost way too much blood. His right leg… It was in an awful state. 

Now Hunk had reached his limit, he couldn’t help but puke his guts out at the sight. Shiro and Keith remained strong however. Shiro took Lance in his arms and ran into the Black Lion. Hunk and Keith followed, hardly matching their leader’s speed. 

They found Pidge inside. She looked pretty beat up too. The young girl's eyes followed them as they put Lance on the ground and Keith started doing CPR again. 

They flew to the Castle, all praying for their dying friend’s life. 

This was the hardest battle they had ever fought. 

None of them came out unscathed. 

But, in time, they healed.

And became stronger.

 

**Part 2**

 

Hunk got out of the healing pods after Pidge and Shiro. He just had a concussion, which was good. However, Keith and Lance didn’t have the same chance. 

Keith had internal bleeding and his right arm was in a terrible state. There was a big laceration that started at his armpit and ended near his elbow. His shoulder had been dislocated. It must have been so painful, but Keith still put it aside to try and save Lance. 

Hunk was proud of him. During their early time as a team, when Allura had been kidnapped, Keith had suggested that they didn’t rescue her. Honestly, Hunk had been shocked. It was so inhumane. Well, now they knew that Keith was half-human, so that explained it a bit, but still Hunk feared that Keith would leave them behind if things got too out of hands or dangerous. He was glad to see how much Keith had changed and grew closer to everyone, even Lance. 

Oh, Lance…

Lance was in the worst state. Concussion, broken ribs, internal bleeding and his leg. It was a miracle that they had been able to revive him. Most of his injuries were serious, but the pods could handle most of them. However, there was nothing to do with his right leg. It had been broken in too many places, it also had many deep cuts and it had lacked blood flow for too long. They had to amputate it. 

And there was another thing that the healing pods couldn’t heal and it was brain damage. Lance had been dead for almost 20 dobashes when his heart was finally reanimated. The lack of oxygen and blood flow to his brain had lasted probably too long for him to get out of the pods completely unscathed. 

Hunk was scared. 

But he couldn’t let his fears get to him. They were all alive and that’s what mattered most. 

He was standing in front of Lance’s pod when he got an awesome idea. He woke Pidge up who was sleeping by Lance’s pod with her laptop on her knees. 

“Hey, Pidge, I got a super idea, but I need your help,” Hunk told her. 

She yawned and straightened up, cracking her back loudly, making Hunk flinch at the disgusting sound. 

“I’m all ears,” she told him lazily. 

“Without his leg, it would be hard for Lance to keep being a Paladin, right?” Hunk started. 

“Thanks for the reminder,” Pidge complained. 

“But what if we made him a prostethic like Shiro’s?” Hunk suggested. 

“You’re our mechanical engineer, Hunk, so you would have to disassemble Shiro’s arm to really get a good idea of its mechanism while I work on the coding part. There’s a risk you could break Shiro’s arm if you mess up with its mechanical components by mistake, you know that, right?” Pidge asked. 

Pidge was right. If they also lost Shiro’s arm, they would have two amputated Paladins and it could take months before they finally repaired Shiro’s arm. Months without being able to form Voltron and save enslaved populations. 

“I don’t mind the risk,” Shiro told them then, cutting off Hunk’s train of thoughts. 

Hunk looked at Shiro, surprised. 

“No, Shiro, Pidge’s right, it’s too risky,” Hunk said. 

Shiro put one of his hands on Hunk’s shoulder and smiled at him. 

“I trust you, Hunk,” Shiro told him. 

Hunk would lie if he said tears didn’t pool in his eyes at Shiro’s statement. It was so father-like and honest. Hunk felt blessed.

“Alright, then,” Hunk agreed. 

Pidge stood up and they moved to the Green Lion’s hangar, where Pidge and Hunk usually worked on their projects. 

They would make sure Lance would be able to stand by their side again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS AND COMMENTS ('cause I need validation) :)


	15. Not Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a langsty mini fic inspired by some inner turmoil I'm personally going through...
> 
>  
> 
> TW: Depression, self-harm...

“How can you expect to take care of more than one person if you can’t even take care of yourself?” Keith scoffed.

They were training, and Lance was struggling. He was always having a hard time keeping up with the others. Is sharpshooter skills weren’t good enough. He wasn’t agile like the others or as intelligent as them. He was a failure.

And his mind kept making comparisons with his friends. Every time he was way below their average. He was nothing compared to them.

That’s how he ended in a depressive state, making it hard to simply do simple tasks throughout the day. That’s also why his aim was more off these days and he wasn’t able to concentrate.

He was a mess.

But Keith was right. He was angry at Lance, because they had so many people’s lives to protect, and Lance was not doing his best.

Keith would never be able to understand that he just couldn’t do his best anymore. Lance’s mind and body were against him.

They were slowly destroying him.

“Keith, that’s a bit harsh, man,” Hunk said. “Lance is just tired today, right buddy?”

“No, Keith’s right…” Lance answered not looking at them. “I’m sorry guys, I guess it’s just all this secret training that’s wearing me off,” he tried to explain.

He saw in their eyes their oh so common annoyance towards him.

“I’m gonna get something to drink! Anyone wants something?” He asked cheerfully.

“Nope,” Pidge answered.

“I’m fine,” Allura replied.

“Me neither,” Hunk said.

Keith kept silent, he only continued glaring at Lance.

“Thanks Lance, we’re good,” Shiro added with a soft smile.

Lance exited the training room then. That’s when he dropped the act. He walked a few steps as his smile vanished. He stood there, silent tears streaming down his face.

Yeah, he couldn’t even take care of himself.

How could he be a saviour?

Who else would he bring down, because he was such a failure?

He had always dreamed of being a space hero. He used to look at the stars with a smile on his face. He used to watch the people he saved with so much pride and hope.

But now he could only see those he hadn’t been able to save. He could only see how flawed he was and how he didn’t deserve to be a defender of the universe. How he didn’t belong amongst the stars…

Or anywhere else…

He had also always dreamed of having a family. And Keith’s words repeated in his head.

_“How can you expect to take care of more than one person if you can’t even take care of yourself?”_

Yeah… How could he?

So… All his dreams and hopes were unattainable, uh?

So, what meaning did it give to his life?

And what risk did it implied to wait for the right amswer to pop out? Would his mental health get worse? Would he really become a liability to his team? Would they eventually push him away, being done with the meatsack of problems he was?

He realized then that he was in his room. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed until now.

His mind wandered to a piece of broken glass he had taken during a battle and hidden away in his room.

It was fucked up, right? It wasn’t a souvenir of sort. He had known what use it would have when he took it.

He looked under the mattress. Here it was…

It wasn’t the first time he had done this in the past weeks. He did it on his ankle. The healing wounds hidden under his pant or Paladin body suit.

He wasn’t proud of them, but the control and physical pain they offered helped against the inside pain.

It was like he was bleeding out his emotions.

He was really messed up, he knew.

But it didn’t matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is dark. The happy ending or hopeful transition just didn't happen to me in real life yet, so I don't have anything positive to add to this post. It is a mini fic written to help with how I feel right now.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!! 
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT :)


	16. Finals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "For the prompts: how about everyone complaining about having tests next week?"
> 
> Hi dear readers! 
> 
> I'm taking prompts on Tumblr (Prettygoo-d)! Here's a mini fic I did for this one!

“Lance? What are you doing?” Hunk asked, concerned.

The Cuban boy was lying in the middle of their apartment, looking at the ceiling and still in his pyjama.

“I’m grieving,” Lance answered.

“Grieving?”

Hunk had no idea what Lance meant by that, but he couldn’t take him seriously only because of his choice of words. Finals were coming, and Lance always tended to be super dramatic during this period.

“My good grades, Hunk! I’m grieving my good grades,” Lance replied angrily, confirming Hunk’s guess.

“No offence, but… you had good grades?” Hunk asked.

Lance sat up straight then, glaring at his best friend. “You’re really no help.”

“Come on, buddy, let’s go to Pidge’s. Maybe if we study with her, it’ll truly help,” Hunk offered.

“Alright, but only if we stop by Starbucks,” Lance agreed, standing up and heading for his room to get changed.

Starbucks was a like a life saver for Lance during finals. Keith and Pidge didn’t mind where it came from, as long as it was coffee. As for Hunk and Shiro, they preferred tea.

About 30 minutes later, Lance was finally ready to head out. They stopped by Starbucks, as promised, and headed to Pidge’s right after. They knocked and entered her apartment almost right away. They were used to entering without waiting for her authorization.

“Cheater!” Pidge growled.

They heard Keith let out a small laugh then. Lance and Hunk headed to the living room. Keith and Pidge were playing video games.

“Are you both serious? We have finals coming next week,” Hunk said with disappointment.

“Like I need to study,” Pidge huffed, overconfident.

“Yes, you do, Pidge! Remember Literature 202?” Hunk replied.

“That was a mistake! I only took this as an elective because you were taking it! All the added psychology material was not expected,” Pidge growled, remembering how this single class had affected her GPA.

“Anyway, don’t go being a bad influence on Keith now. He really needs to study,” Hunk told her.

“I studied,” Keith announced.

“You did?” Lance asked, judging him.

“Yeah,” Keith answered, annoyed by Lance’s tone.

“Yeah, well, having your physics’ book opened at the first page doesn’t count as studying,” Hunk replied, eyeing the opened books on Pidge’s table.

Keith didn’t argue, only looked away, sulking. Hunk was really their mom friend. They were lucky he wasn’t like them, otherwise they would be in trouble.

“Hey everyone!” Shiro greeted them, entering Pidge’s apartment.

Hunk sighted in relief. The dad friend had finally arrived! And as if Shiro was their study messiah, everyone gathered around him and finally accepted their fate.

They could play games and complain when they were done with their finals, but for now they had to do everything they could to increase their chances of having good grades.

And that meant spending the next few days studying like crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT :)


	17. Fallen (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear readers! 
> 
> This is a prompt from an anon on Tumblr :   
> Lance gets stranded on a planet and gets tortured or something about voltron and the red lion’s nearby and could have saved him but instead goes off to save Keith who wasn’t in half the amount of danger as lance. His arm gets really damaged and he’s no longer able to snipe. He goes on a rant to her how he’s useless on the team and now he’s been rejected by both blue and red. Continue how you want. Thanks in advance!
> 
> So, I got a little carried away :) It will have a second part to it for sure, but I might post it only next week, so stay updated for that :)
> 
> Trigger warnings: blood, injuries…

“Red! This isn’t funny! Please, I need your help, girl!” Lance pleaded as he ran with all he had through the Galra ship he had been dropped on earlier with Keith and Pidge.

Something had gone wrong and he had been forced to separate from them. Pidge had informed them a few dobashes later that she was out and in Green, but had also been separated from Keith. Lance had to get out as well, but Red wasn’t answering his calls. The others wanted to help, but they were overwhelmed and Galra reinforcement was on its way.

They were out of time.

“Guys! I’m out too and… and in Red,” Keith announced then. “I’m on my way to you, Lance!”

Red was with Keith? But Keith was Black’s pilot now, not Red’s. Lance couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal from distracting him a bit, but he couldn’t afford to be distracted and this small mistake was his downfall.

A sudden pain flared in his right shoulder and he fell to the ground in a hallway on his left to get to cover. The right side of Lance’s back and face burned, so he took off his helmet and threw it to the ground, as if it could help getting rid of the burning feeling on his face at least, but it didn’t he realized soon enough. His right hand touched his face instinctively, but it only made the sensation worse. He had been struck by an enemy shot, a laser bullet. Shit…

He looked around, distressed and knowing that the Galra soldiers were coming for him. He had to get away, he had to…

An escape pod! There was an escape pod on his left!

He stood up and sprinted for it right away, activating it with shaking hands and the small amount of knowledge he had about Galra tech. Bless Coran for his little mandatory Galra tech training. The soldiers behind him started firing his way again. He barely escaped more damage and entered the pod. The door closed between him and the soldiers, and the pod was launched into space.

Lance stood there for a few ticks, breathing heavily, still shocked, and then his legs buckled under him and he fell to the ground. This caused a wave of pain to course through his entire body and he let out a cry at the terrible feeling. His vision wavered and he fell unconscious a few ticks later.

—

“Keith! Where’s Lance? Is he ok?” Allura asked as she ran to the Red Lion who was entering her hangar.

Hunk, Shiro, Pidge and Coran were on her heels. They had been really concerned when Lance had stopped responding to the coms, and then they had been forced to wormhole. Did Keith make it in time to save him? He had said that he got inside… He had said that he had found Lance’s signal…

They still feared the worst.

Red’s jaw opened and Keith walked out, looking shocked and then angry. He turned to face Red.

“Why?! Why did you come for me instead of him?!” Keith yelled in anger.

“Isn’t Lance with you?” Hunk asked tentatively.

“No! No, he’s not! He’s…” Keith replied, unable to finish his sentence, tears appearing in his eyes.

Allura could understand his overwhelming emotions and the guilt he felt. He had been teamed up with Lance, and he was supposed to get him back, but…

“What happened, Keith?” Shiro asked with a calm voice. “You said you had found his location.”

“His helmet… That’s all I found, and…” Keith summoned it from his belt.

He showed it to them. They were silent for a few long ticks, all shocked by the damage and the traces of blood on it.

“We have to go back, Allura! We can’t leave him there!” Keith stated, still emotional.

“Keith, I’m sorry, but if we go now, we’ll also be captured, I can’t sllow that,” Allura answered, tears pooling in her eyes too.

There was no other option for now. They had to abandon Lance…

“It’s all your fault!” Keith screamed, turning to Red. “Black was on her way, I wasn’t… I could have handled myself until then!”

Keith threw Lance’s damaged helmet at his Lion and stormed out of the hangar. His team was conflicted. It was suicide to go back, they knew it, but it hurt them all immensely to leave Lance in Galra hands.

Still, they would make sure to save Lance as soon as possible.

But for that, they needed a plan.

—

Lance came to with a splitting headache and an uncomfortable heat. Damn, how much had he drunk last night?

He opened his eyes and was blinded by the light glittering all around him. Yeah, that didn’t help his headache. He blinked a few times until his eyes finally got a bit used to the light and his vision became less blurry. Even if there were sparkles all around him, he was seated in a shadowed space and the sparkles were actually pieces of glass.

What the… Oh. He remembered now.

The mission had gone wrong, Red had saved Keith, and Lance had taken an escape pod. The pod had probably crashed. Shit, things were really getting better. His damn luck, right?

He tried to move from his place lying on his back, but pain flared in all his body. He let out a hurtful scream and tried to get his breathing under control again. Even his ribs hurt.

So, it wasn’t only his right side that was wounded, that was for sure. Now, he had no choice but to try and see the extent of the damage. He moved again, and it was easier, even if it was still hell. He expected the pain now, so he guessed it helped somehow. After a long few dobashes, he was finally able to sit up and lean against one of the pod’s walls, wincing at the pain it triggered in his back, where the laser bullet had hit him.

He took a few deep breaths, refusing to look at himself until he was a bit calmer. He knew there was something with his left leg. It hurt more than the rest of his body and he had been unable to put any weight on it. After a long moment, he finally felt ready…

Oh, was he wrong…

He threw up beside him just after a small glance, causing more pain in his ribs and everywhere else because of the movements. Yup, it was really bad.

There was a big piece of glass ebbed in his left thigh, his left shin was also clearly in bad shape, cuts littered his body, and there was a lot of blood surrounding him.

He let out a sob, feeling panicked, hurt and scared. He needed help, but he didn’t know when it would come. His friends might not even be able to find him for a while, but the Galra knew he had taken an escape pod.

Shit the Galra… He had to hide somewhere so they wouldn’t find him before his friends did. Lance looked around, wiping his tears off. He was still alive, so he could still try to keep it that way as long as possible.

At least, the air was probably ok for him to breathe, since he was still alive even if he didn’t have his helmet anymore and the front windows of the pod were wrecked.

The first thing he had to take care of was his leg. So, he needed bandages and a crutch. There was another problem though… If he took out the glass, Lance feared he would bleed out. The best thing to do was to stay still and wait for help, but since he had already concluded that this would probably lead to him being captured by the Galra, he had to find another solution. He definitely couldn’t let the glass in there, it would be even more dangerous…

Lance looked around, searching for a possible option. He didn’t find one, but spotted a box near him, in the sunlight, that looked like a first aid kit, just what he was looking for. He extended his hand towards it and was shocked by the heat of this planet’s sun even with his paladin armour. It would be hard to walk under that temperature, but future Lance would find a way to deal with that, now present Lance had other more urgent things to take care of.

He pushed away the pieces of glass covering the box with one hand and he felt even more heat coming off of them. If he hadn’t been wearing his gloves, he would’ve burned himself on them. He didn’t know if this was actually glass, but it seemed to be extremely hot.

An idea crossed his mind then and his eyes wandered to the piece ebbed in his thigh.

It would hurt like hell, but… It might be his only way to survive.

So, he reached out for the first aid kit and opened it. And luck was on his side for once it seemed, there were bandages and other alien products in there. He smiled tiredly and got ready for the operation he was about to carry out.

Once everything was ready, he took a deep breath in and focused back on his hurt thigh. He could do this. Yeah, he could… Oh dios, he was really gonna do this.

Lance took the piece of glass in his hands and this simple thing already hurt a lot. He was glad that his gloves seemed to resist the cutting edges of the glass. What he was truly concerned for, though, was that he had to stay conscious this time, otherwise he might die of blood loss or be unable to hide in time from the Galra that were certainly coming for him.

He took another deep breath.

Here goes nothing…

And he tugged on it in one swift movement. He screamed at it was removed from his flesh and reached out for the prepared burning space glass beside him. He could barely see and his hands were shaking badly, but he finally got it and without hesitation he put it on his wound. A screech escaped his lips as the disgusting smell of burning flesh made its way to his nose, but he forced himself to apply pressure on it.

He had to survive. He had a family back on Earth that was waiting for him. He had his team to go back to as well.

He couldn’t die here. He couldn’t even lose consciousness. He had to make it!

After what felt like an eternity, he finally removed the burning glass. He was crying rivers and he was in agony. He didn’t have energy left in him anymore, but he couldn’t just stay there either. He wrapped his leg in bandages, moving against the pain in his ribs and despite the constant suffering coming from his leg.

The whole time, he thought of his family, of his mama and how she had always told him to do everything he could to survive.

He had to get through this, no matter what. He was strong… Stronger than others gave him credit for, and it was the perfect time to prove it.

When everything was done, he took a few dobashes to calm down a bit and get his mind to focus again.

He looked around, searching for a crutch and something that might help against the burning sunlight outside. Dios, it was hot here…

He didn’t find a crutch, but there was a blanket in one of the compartments near him that would help against the sunlight, so at least there was that.

Maybe he could find something outside.

He hardly stood up with the help of the wall beside him. Once up, he slowly made his way out, with tiny jumps, one muffled scream at a time. This small distance had been excruciatingly painful and some pessimistic thoughts appeared in his mind. How would he survive until help came if he could barely make it out of the escape pod?

Once under the sun, Lance took in the landscape in front of him. It was… incredible. At first, it looked like the cracked dehydrated ground of a desert, but the cracks were gigantic and hid tons of alien plants. It was impressive that his pod had not fallen into one of those big crevices. He had to get down there, even if he didn’t know what dangerous animal or plants could be living down there. He was too easy to spot on the “surface,” so the best option was the unknown of the underground. He would also be better hidden from the burning sunlight there.

Lance sat on the edge of one of the crevices and looked down. The ground seemed to be a few metres down. It would hurt… And this was an understatement.

He slowly let himself slip over the edge of the crevice. He had no better choice anyway. 

Once he was only holding himself with his hands, he took a deep breath and let himself fall.

He blanked when one of the plants caught his injured limb in the fall.

Hopefully, he didn’t die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT :) 
> 
> You can also send me prompts on Tumblr (Prettygoo-d)!


	18. Mercy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance left the team without even leaving a note or anything...   
> Keith finally finds him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a really sad langsty mini fic…
> 
> TW: Blood and injury, suicidal thoughts, torture…

“Hunk? What are you doing?” Pidge asked, entering the Castle’s kitchen, looking for a snack. 

For a small instant, Hunk stopped what he was doing, but restarted almost right away without turning to look at Pidge. 

“I’m making a cake,” he answered without a forced joyful tone. 

Pidge looked at the calendar on the fridge beside her, confirming her suspicion. 

“You know what... it’s a great idea, Hunk,” she finally told him with a compassionate expression on her face. “He would’ve liked that.” 

Hunk stopped mixing the ingredients again. His shoulders started shaking and a flow of silent tears fell down his cheeks. 

Pidge’s chest squeezed at the sight and she couldn’t help the awful emotions that suddenly filled her. Hunk turned to her, and she hugged him right away. 

“I miss him so much...” Hunk cried. 

“I miss him too.” 

-

There was a heavy silence at the table when Hunk brought the cake. 

“I... It’s for Lance’s birthday,” he explained, even though everyone already knew. 

“Oh, it looks really good,” Coran commented, trying to break the awful tension in the room.

Suddenly, Keith stood up, an angry scowl on his face. 

“He doesn’t deserve one. Not after leaving us without even an explanation,” he said, exiting the room right after.  

They knew why he was angry at Lance, but they couldn’t change his mind. It had been a little more than a year since he disappeared. They didn’t know what happened, just that one night, as they were staying on a allied planet, Lance had snuck out of the Castle never to be seen again. 

He had just left them. 

No goodbye...

Nothing...

-

“What is this?” Shiro asked, looking at the zoomed image on the big screen in front of them. 

“It looks like Galra,” Hunk commented. 

“Our scanners didn’t pick anything about it. It must be an abandoned base,” Allura added. 

“It doesn’t look like there has been any activity on their part yet, so maybe we could go take a look? Just to make sure it’s not a hidden base,” The Green Paladin offered.

“Good , Pidge, Keith and I will go on this reconnaissance mission in the Green Lion, while you guys supervise things from here,” Shiro decided.

Everyone agreed silently. This was their usual mission, nothing special about it really, yet there was a tension in the air since the night before. Keith was sulking, clearly, and nobody knew what to do about it. He wasn’t the only one who was angry at Lance, but most of them just wanted him to be safe somewhere, no matter where he ran away to. They all missed him, even if Keith refused to accept his own feelings, choosing to stay angry at him instead. 

Shiro sighed, knowing that no matter what he said to Keith, it wouldn’t change anything anyway. He could be incredibly stubborn when he wanted. 

-

“We’re in,” Shiro informed the rest of the team still in the Castle. “Still no activity detected. We’re moving further inside the building.”

“Roger that, Shiro,” Coran answered. 

The three Paladins made their way further inside silently, still unsure if the place was truly abandoned. They finally found control panel near a door. After a quick inspection, Pidge figured she could access to enough information to determine what this base served as and if it had been active lately. 

Keith and Shiro looked around while waiting. The design was really Galra-like, minus the usual purple lights. 

Keith wandered to the room at the end of the hallway. Something inside him was telling him that he had to go this way, a little bit like the feeling he had gotten in the desert what seemed like a really long time ago. 

He put his hand on the control panel beside it and it the door opened to his surprise. 

“Keith?” Shiro asked, concerned, seeing him enter the room with his guard completely down. 

Suddenly, the door behind Keith closed. He turned around, trying to open it back, but nothing was moving it. 

“Keith! Keith, come in!” Shiro asked. 

“I’m ok, Shiro,” he answered. “The door won’t move.”

“Pidge! Can you open the door?”

“Yeah, right on it!” 

Keith realized then that this room wasn’t dark like the rest of the base. There were purple lights all around. Keith turned to observe the rest of the room to realize that it was in fact a hallway. 

“Ok, that’s weird... This door requires a completely different type of access code to be opened once more. It might take a little longer than I thought,” Pidge informed them. 

“Alright, Keith, don’t move from where you are,” Shiro ordered him. 

“Yeah, yeah...” 

“Keith...” Shiro started with a warning tone, but it was too late, Keith was already walking down the hallway, motivated by the growing feeling inside his chest, letting it lead his way. 

Finally, he arrived to another a large room with another door at the end of it. That’s when he heard people talking. He moved to the side, hiding from their sight. They looked like druids. This meant he had no other choice but to confront them alone, because they would surely sense his presence anyway. Better to take them by surprise, he thought. They were only two anyway, nothing he couldn’t handle. 

“Why does is Haggar so adamant to keep him alive? He is no longer of any use to us or anybody. Even she has removed all protection from this place,” One of them complained. 

Keith was confused by the words the druid had spoken, but he didn’t let that interfere with his plan. He jumped on them, taking them both off guard. One of them was taken care of quickly, and the other fought well, casting spells and teleporting all around Keith, but in the end the druid’s movements were predictable enough that he finally took it out. 

After that, he ran to the other door. He put his hand on the scanner and it opened. Keith walked into a room with two computers. Their screens were both too bright in the dark room. Something caught his eye however...

On one of them, some kind of film was playing, with landscapes weirdly familiar. 

Keith walked up to it, intrigued. When he saw the Garrison, his heart skipped a beat. Those images were from Earth! 

He moved the mouse of the computer, and suddenly the whole room was lighted in white. Used to the darkness, he scowled at the unexpected brightness. After a few seconds, he felt comfortable anough to have a good look around. 

An intense feeling of horror washed over him then, making it hard to breath and rendering his legs weak. He barely stayed up and walked clumsily to the other side of the room. 

In front of the computers was a glass, And behind it was another white room with a metal platform in the middle of it. On the middle platform was... Lance. A bloody, tortured, dismembered version of him, but there was no doubt, it was him. 

Keith passed through the door on the side, the only thing that still separated them. 

“L-Lance? Oh God...” Keith felt nauseous at the disgusting smell that filled the room, but he didn’t let it stop him from reaching the abused form on the platform. 

He wasn’t even bounded to the platform. A quick look-over was enough for Keith to understand why. His naked form was so wounded that they certainly had no reason to restrain him. They had amputated his arms and legs, which had been sewn awfully, probably just to prevent him from bleeding out. He had cuts and bruises everywhere. There were many electrodes all over his body, probably thanks to which the druids were collecting information from his physical or psychological responses, like the images Keith had seen on the computer earlier. It was terrifying. 

Keith put a trembling hand on the side of Lance’s face and the other boy shivered at the contact. Lance let out a tired moan that broke Keith’s heart in a thousand pieces. How was he still alive? 

“Lance, it’s me, it’s Keith,” the Red Paladin said with a shaky voice, trying to comfort the other boy. 

Lance’s breath caught in his throat. Keith saw his chest hardly get back to a normal pace. Lance’s features became somewhat sorrowful and red tears fell down his face. 

Keith understood what it meant. Tears fell down Keith’s eyes. They had taken so much from him... 

“I’m so sorry, Lance,” Keith sobbed, overwhelmed by guilt, fear and anguish. 

“Keith...” Lance croaked. 

“Why did you sneak out that night? It was stupid and dangerous and... and we missed you so much...” Keith cut him, unable to contain his emotions. 

“Your birthday,” Lance answered. “Didn’t want anybody... to know... too stubborn...”

Keith felt like the floor beneath him had just disappeared. He remembered that Lance had disappeared just before his birthday. It had hurt him. He had thought that Lance just really hated him. He had been wrong, and it hurt so much to realize it now, looking at the tortured form of the former Blue Paladin. 

“I’ll get you out of here, I just have to...” Keith started, looking around frantically, searching for something to transport him. 

“Keith... Kill me,” Lance requested then, his voice full of emotion and, strangely, hope. 

“W-what? No, I can’t, I... I’m gonna save you, Lance,” Keith told him. 

“Please...” 

“No!”

“Keith... It’s ok...” 

“No, it’s not! Stop, please... I can’t kill you,” Keith cried. 

He knew, looking at Lance, that simply moving him slightly would cause him agony. He was on death’s doorstep, and Keith was all he needed to finally make the last few steps to finally be liberated from the terrible nightmare that his life had become. 

“Free me...” Lance reiterated, his voice somewhat clearer and more decisive. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith answered, knowing that he would be forced to do it in the end. 

“I know...” 

Keith looked at Lance and every part of him once more. He was surely suffering more than even Keith could imagine. Even if by some miracle Lance made it out of here, what awaited him was even more pain and hardship. Lance had made his choice. He didn’t want to suffer anymore, and Keith could understand that. If he was in the same situation, he would make the same choice. For all the mistakes Keith had done, for how much he had wrongly hated Lance for leaving them, when in fact he had been tortured all this time... Keith owed it to him. He had to respect his wish. 

So he took out his Bayard, which transformed in his usual sword right away.

He positioned it unsteadily over Lance’s chest, his hands still trembling. 

“It... It was an honour to fly with you, Sharpshooter,” Keith said with a heavy voice.

“Thank you,” Lance murmured with a soft smile. 

-

Shiro found Keith wailing minutes later. He barely prevented Pidge from seeing the mutilated unmoving body on the platform on the other side of the glass.

A few days later, funerals worthy of a hero were held in Lance’s honour. 

Keith never forgave himself for what had happened to him. 

But he promised to win this war and protect Earth for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!   
> Please leave a comment :)


End file.
